Shinjis New Life
by gunman
Summary: After dying while battling the 12th Angel, Shinji is resurrected into a world of swords, magic and monsters, where he is chosen to be the champion of the God of Metal and the Goddess of Healing. Rated M for lemons and blood. Multi-crossover.
1. Welcome To Caratharas

_**SHINJIS NEW LIFE  
**_ by Gunman

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Authors Note: In this Isekai story, we have Shinji reincarnated into a fantasy world where he starts to make a life for himself. This story borrows many elements seen in Isekai mangas where the MC is overpowered somewhat. And Shinji's personality is also a bit different here. He is basically a normal teenager raised in a foster home before he was called to Tokyo-3 to fight the Angels.

Co-written with Reisfriend.

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Chapter 1  
 **Welcome to Caratharas**

"Uugghhh." Shinji groaned as he opened his eyes only to see a bright blue sky.

 _'What the hell?'_ He thought as he sat up to look around. The only thing he saw was a lush forest in front of him and a meadow with a ruined stone building to his left.

The last thing he remembered was being swallowed by the 12th Angel while he was still trapped inside his Eva Unit-01, his life-support system had shut down because the EVA ran out of power.

 _'I should be dead.'_ He thought as he slapped his face to make sure he wasn't dreaming this wide open scene while being trapped in a tube.

He turned around and saw a huge mountain reaching up to the clouds, with the mountain range itself looking like it could go on for miles and miles in either direction.

' _This whole situation is like something out of a fantasy game, or light novel.'_ he thought with a shocked look on his face. _'Was I reincarnated into a fantasy world like in a manga? No, it can't be.'_

Just then, a strong gust of wind nearly knocked him over as a bright light that nearly blinded him appeared before him. When he opened his eyes again, there was an elderly man and a young woman standing in front of him. The man was dressed in a strange suit of armor, minus the arm-sleeves and leggings, gauntlets on both wrists, sandals, and holding a staff that looking like it was made of both pure silver with a gold head on top. He was tall and muscular with a white beard and head of hair. His eyes were a dull metal gray. The woman was beautiful, dressed in an old-style white dress with sandals and had a pair of metal bracelets on both wrists. She had long blond hair and blue eyes.

"Ah Shinji Ikari, welcome to the land of Caratharas." The elderly man said.

"How do you know me? And what is this place?" Shinji asked with a puzzled face.

"I am Galac, god of metal, and this is my daughter Lianna, goddess of healing. And you are now in a parallel world." the elderly man answered.

"Wait, you are Gods, and this is a parallel world? This has to be a dream." Shinji said.

"This isn't a dream, Shinji. And as to why you are here, you died in your own world and we brought you here to give you another chance in life." Lianna answered.

"I died?" He asked.

"Yes, Shinji. Your destiny was to die in a fight against the Angels in your world." Lianna answered.

"But why would _you_ give me a second chance?" He asked.

"Because you are not the first human from Earth to be reincarnated in this world, and we Gods usually reincarnate humans with great potential to a world where this potential can be fully utilized." Galac answered.

"Wait, there are other worlds as well?" Shinji asked.

"Yes. Just as there are many Gods, there are many, many worlds with humans and other races in parallel universes." Lianna answered.

"And just what races are in this world?" Shinji asked.

"Pretty much everything from humans to demons, like in those fantasy novels of your world." Lianna answered.

"You have actually read those?" Shinji asked.

"Of course. We Gods always search for entertainment from various worlds to amuse ourselves in our free time." Lianna answered.

Shinji made a surprised look at that comment.

"And what kind of potential do I have?" he asked.

"You, Shinji, have the power to control metal and are capable of healing anything." Galac answered.

Shinji went silent, realizing that those were the powers these two had.

Lianna then spoke.

"This must a lot for you take in at once, but don't panic, Shinji. We will help you get started in this world." she said.

"Yes, since we don't want you to die too fast in this world." Galac said.

"And why is that?" Shinji asked.

"Well, we Gods have our favorites that we watch over in various worlds and since you have powers in our jurisdictions, we brought you here to be our favorite. And this world could really use powerful individuals like you Shinji." Galac answered.

"For what?" Shinji asked.

"To fight the various monsters, and other beings, that threaten the existence of sentient races of this world. These mindless creatures that most people in this world hunt for a living were created by the God of Monsters and the God of Chaos in order to make sure this world doesn't become stagnant and give the sentient races reasons to kill each other over petty squabbles." Lianna answered.

Shinji went over to sit at on some rubble at the ruin. Lianna came over to him and stood before him.

"What's wrong Shinji?" she asked.

"This... is quite overwhelming." He answered.

"It must be. But I recommend that you start moving towards the city because this area can be dangerous at night." Lianna said.

"So, monsters come out here?" He asked, looking at her now.

"Yes, they prefer to live in the mountains, forests and lakes for better protection. So I suggest that you start moving but before that, let us give you our blessings first." Galac said.

"What blessings?" He asked.

"These blessings will give you knowledge on how to use your new powers and you can also read, speak, write and understand this worlds language." Galac said.

"But you would still have to practice using your powers since we will only give you knowledge on how you can use it." Lianna added.

They both waved their hands over him and Shinji felt really strange, almost as if something was downloaded into his brain.

When it was over, the only thing Shinji could think was: _'Wow, that felt strange.'_

Galac and Lianna looked at him, seeing the overwhelmed expression on his face.

"Don't worry, that happens with everyone their first time." Lianna said.

"How do you feel, Shinji? Can you sense any metal around you?" Galac asked.

Shinji raised his head and looked around, feeling a small amount of metal nearby.

"There is some metal in those ruins." He answered, looking at the ruins.

Galac and Lianna looked at the ruins and then back to Shinji.

"Good, Shinji. Now focus your power and try to draw out the metal." Galac said.

Shinji focused and tried to pull out the metal he felt under the rubble. At first nothing happened but then finally a small chest flew out from underneath the stones and flew towards him, landing at his feet. It was about three feet high by four feet long and looked like an old pirate treasure chest. It had metal bands all around it.

"Very good, Shinji." Galac laughed. "You still need practice but I'm sure you can master your powers in no time. Now try to open that chest."

The chest had a small padlock on it and Shinji figured that maybe he could unlock it with his powers like in that movie he saw once.

He focused on the tumblers of the lock and tried to move and soon enough they moved, unlocking the lock. Opening it, Shinji found some old clothes and one silver coin.

"You can use those clothes instead of that weird bodysuit you're wearing, Shinji. It would attract all kinds of unwanted attention if you walked around wearing that." Lianna said.

"Right, but how do I use my healing powers?" Shinji asked.

"For now you can simply just say 'recovery' while focusing your healing power to someone you want to use it on, including yourself." She answered.

"Just say 'recovery'? Can't you tell me more now?" He asked.

"We could, but it would take too long. Night is coming fast. Right now you have to change your clothes and start moving away from here. There is a road just beyond that forest, about half a mile away. Follow the road to an inn that merchants and travelers use for resting. We will talk more once you have reached the city." Galac said, and in a flash of light, the two gods vanished.

 _'And... they're gone.'_ Shinji thought, somewhat depressingly, realizing that he was once again in a new and unfamiliar situation, and once again, he was alone. Looking around he saw that the sun was beginning to drop down towards the mountains. _'Guess I better get the hell out of here.'_ He thought as he depressurized his plug suit and changed into the clothes the chest contained, which were remarkably well-preserved, considering where they had been, as well as fitting him perfectly. He realized that the chest had obviously been left there by the Gods he had just met.

Pocketing the coin after changing clothes, which were a simple white shirt, brown pants with belt, brown boots, and what looked like a greenish cloak with a hood that he could tie around his neck, he started walking through the woods like the Gods instructed, hoping that he wouldn't run into any beasts or monsters on the way.

Along the way, he kept thinking about one thing he had imagined from all the fantasy mangas he had read.

' _I wonder if I'll get to meet some hot warrior babes or elves now that I am in a fantasy world.'_

Looking at some of the trees that were unlike anything on Earth, he vaguely wondered if they could walk and talk. He wouldn't be too surprised. But as he looked about the forest, he wondered if there was anything of value or interest here, if the trees or rocks held any special properties, aside from the obvious things.

Being a fairly good athlete back in school and having interest in science, math and history, thanks to his genes, he found that his interest in these particular fields might come in handy. He was on his own and his survival kinda depended on his not being lax.

After 20 minutes, he came out of the woods and the road the Gods said was right there, he looked around the landscape only to see more forest on the other side of the road with some clearing and a river near the treeline.

Walking to the river to drink some water, he stopped when he saw that the water was bubbling.

 _'Probably better to stay away from it.'_ He thought as he went back to the road and saw some smoke in a distance. _'Must be the Inn they mentioned.'_ He thought as he started following the road towards the smoke and after 10 minutes of walking, he saw a two-story building with lights in the windows and a rather large stable next to the inn.

Looking at the inn, he thought about how would he pay for anything since he only had one silver coin on him. With the sunlight starting to dim, Shinji went inside.

Opening the door, Shinji saw dozens of people around the Inn, laughing, drinking, eating and some in the corners just smoking their pipes. He noted that most of them were human, he saw a couple of shorter people who he could have mistaken for dwarves or hobbits, and there was at least one person with pointed ears that could have been an elf.

No one seemed to pay him any mind as he walked over to the bar.

"Hello there. Can I help you, stranger?" a portly man with a mustache wearing an apron, a white shirt and a dirty pair of pants said to him. (AN: Think the bartender at the Prancing Pony in LotR)

"Uh, yes. I wanted to get a room for the night. Maybe something to eat." he said.

"Course. You have any money?" the large man asked.

Shinji pulled the silver coin from his pocket and placed it on the counter.

"Hmm. Well, that'll get you a room for a night, or something to eat and I can let you stay in the stables with the horses." the man said.

Shinji seemed to consider his options, which seemed fair all things considered, before the door to the Inn was forcefully thrown open and a group of maybe ten people walked in. They were all wearing medium-weighted armor, except around their faces, their armored breastplates having a strange animal face on them. It looked like a wolf or maybe a coyote. There were nine men and a woman, the leader having a thick, scruffy beard and mustache and carrying a large spiked mace in his hand.

"Oh, hell. Gryza!" the bartender gasped when he saw them.

"Who?" Shinji asked.

"He's a bandit, wanted by the King of Ithalan."

"Ithalan?"

"The great city of Caratharas. To the west." the man answered, obvious fear in his eyes and oblivious to Shinjis questioning.

Gryza walked over to the bar, pushing Shinji aside and dropped a bag of coins on the counter. There looked to be a spray of blood on the bag.

"Hello, Bottlebutt, my old friend." Gryza said with a mocking laugh.

"It's Butterburr." the bartender corrected him.

"Whatever. A cask of your best ail and food, lots of food! For we are tired and hungry after a hard days work!" Gryza said as the rest of the patrons of the Inn seemed to keep an eye on the group, worried that they will draw unwanted attention to Gryza and his men. And by 'unwanted', the men didn't want Gryza and his men to attack them, and the women didn't want them to molest them.

The woman who was with them, a muscular amazon with reddish brown hair, seemed to be eyeing Shinji like he was a piece of meat. Shinji was a little unnerved by her gaze, to say the least.

"Chop, Chop, barkeep!" one of the other men, named Hord, snapped at Butterburr.

Realizing how potentially disastrous this was, Shinji began to slowly back away from the group. He saw, out of the corner of his eye, one of the men in the shadows pull a small crystal ball, the size of a golf ball, out of his cloak and started speaking to it. The ball seemed to glow as he did. He focused his attention back on the group of bandits, only to have his hand twitch involuntarily.

The woman, named Brighid, noticed before anyone else did, how her armor and weapons seemed to be instantly drawn to the boy. But what really got everyones attention, was when Gryza's bag of coins suddenly slid across the bar and right towards Shinji. The boy looked shocked as the coins all but flew at him.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Shinji cried out as he lifted his hands to stop the bag, only for it to fly into his hands.

Everyone looked at Shinji in shock. Gryza and his men looked at Shinji with anger.

"Hey! You little thief! That's our money!" Gryza shouted as he and his men circled the bar in order to surround him.

Brighid rushed forward to put herself between Gryza and Shinji.

"Back off, Gryza! This one's mine!" she hissed.

"Oh? What are you gonna do? Kill him, or lay him?"

"Maybe both." she said with a wicked smile, while looking back to Shinji.

Shinji gulped at hearing that.

"You can have him, once we have our money." Gryza said.

Brighid turned and moved towards Shinji, who tried to throw the money back to her. However, the bag stopped about three feet in mid-air from Shinji and then flew back into his hands. He tried to give the money back over and over, only for the bag to fly back to him right after he threw it.

If his life wasn't in such peril, he might have found the situation to be funny.

Brighid looked at the boy in confusion and interest.

"I swear I'm not doing this intentionally!" Shinji said.

"That's it. Kill him!" Gryza shouted.

One of Gryza's men rushed around the bar to get behind Shinji. He threw the bag at the man, who caught it, but was suddenly pulled forward by the bag, off his feet, and flying towards Shinji. Shinji ducked as the man flew over him and into a table where a trio of people were just sitting and watching the whole thing.

The second bandit tried to rush Shinji, aiming to punch his lights out. Shinji ducked and dodged the blows, before pushing on the mans armor just below his chest. The man suddenly flew across the room and slammed into the wall, knocking his head against the back. Shinji gasped, as he had barely touched the man.

The third bandit growled and started swinging his sword at Shinji, who ducked under a table occupied by the lone elf in the Inn. The bandit growled as he slammed his sword into the table, shattering it as Shinji quickly shuffled out of the way.

The elf suddenly grabbed the bandit who had shattered his table, and thus spilled his meal, and hit him in the face, knocking him down.

Several other of the Inns patrons, the dwarves and the other men, were quickly taking to brawling with the rest of Gryza's men. Gryza, however, didn't notice this as he was so focused on the boy who started all this.

"RAAAAGGGHHHH!" Gryza shouted as he charged towards Shinji, his spiked mace raised up to bash him completely.

Shinji threw up his hands, causing the mace to fly out of Gryza's hands and embed itself in the wall on the far side of the Inn.

"What?" Gryza gasped in shock and confusion.

"Sorry." Shinji said, running around to the other side of the bar as Hord rushed after him.

Hord gripped his flail and rushed towards Shinji, hurling it at him with intent to kill. The young man threw up his left hand, impulsively, to try and deflect the metal flail that was on the end of a long chain, (which in retrospect might have seemed incredibly stupid) only for the weapon to suddenly fly away from him.

"Huh?" Hord gasped as the business end of the flail slammed into his face, crushing his nose and loosening a few teeth. He fell backwards as the rest of the gang just watched him collapse onto the floor.

Everyone in the Inn was just looking at Shinji, who was still a little panicked.

Just then, another person, wearing the same armor as Gryza and his men, walked into the Inn just behind Shinji.

 _Another one? Must have been tying up the horses_. Shinji thought as he noticed the man.

"Drak! Kill Him!" Gryza shouted at the newly arrived man as he pointed towards Shinji.

Shinji then noticed that Drak had a large wooden club. He gulped, realizing that his powers, which he knew he had been using on reflex, wouldn't be of any use here.

Drak advanced on Shinji, knocking away stools and tables as he tried to get to the boy. Shinji had been backed up and cornered by the much larger man, who raised his club over his head to smash the boy into paste.

Suddenly, the club was grabbed out of his hands and he felt the full weight of it come down on his head. Hard. He saw stars before he saw darkness.

"Brighid!" Gryza shouted in shock.

"I told you. He's mine!" the woman said as she tossed the club behind her.

"Why you filthy little..." Gryza growled as he advanced on the woman, only to find a knife blade right under his throat.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Gryza." a low-tone voice said behind him.

Gryza then noticed that the rest of his gang had been rounded up, tied up, and moved to the center of the room, and were surrounded by a group of similarly dressed black-robed figures, each with a sword at the throats of his gang.

"Ithalanian Rangers." Gryza gasped when he saw the robed figures.

"The King would like to have a word with you." the man said as he relieved Gryza of his weapons and ushered him over to the rest of his gang.

Gryza briefly wondered why Brighid was not being arrested like they were.

Shinji was breathing heavily now as the woman approached him.

"Are you alright?" she asked Shinji.

"I... don't know..." he said as his vision suddenly went dark and he collapsed to the ground.

End of chapter 1.

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Authors Notes:

For those who are probably wondering, Shinji was using his metal powers on involuntary reflex, which was causing a strain on his body because he hasn't been trained to use them properly. Which means he was exerting himself more than he should have been, not knowing his limits, before he was fully prepared for it. And once his adrenaline wore off, he just passed out from exhaustion.

And for those who might have noticed, Brighid is meant to be this worlds version of Brigitte from Overwatch. Other characters from different games and movies will also show up. I'm just pointing this out so everyone is aware.

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OMAKE

Realizing how potentially disastrous this was, Shinji began to slowly back away from the group. He saw, out of the corner of his eye, one of the men in the shadows pull a small crystal ball, the size of a golf ball, out of his cloak and started speaking to it. The ball seemed to glow as he did. He focused his attention back on the group of bandits, only to have his hand twitch involuntarily.

The woman, named Brighid, noticed before anyone else did, how her armor and weapons seemed to be instantly drawn to the boy. But what really got everyones attention, was when Gryza's bag of coins suddenly slid across the bar and right towards Shinji. The boy looked shocked as the coins all but flew at him.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Shinji cried out as he lifted his hands to stop the bag, only for it to fly into his hands.

Everyone looked at Shinji in shock. Gryza and his men looked at Shinji with anger.

"Hey! You little thief! That's our money!" Gryza shouted as he and his men made their way to him.

Brighid rushed forward to put herself between Gryza and Shinji.

"Back off, Gryza! This one's mine!" she hissed.

"Oh? What are you gonna do? Kill him, or lay him?"

"Maybe both." she said with a wicked smile, while looking back to Shinji.

Shinji gulped at hearing that.

"You can have him, once we have our money."

Brighid walked over to Shinji, grabbed the bag of coins from him and tossed it to Gryza without incident.

She then grabbed Shinji by his collar, along with a bottle of wine, and dragged him upstairs. She pulled Shinji into one of the unoccupied rooms and slammed the door shut.

Shinji looked at the woman who stared at him with a look he couldn't discern.

"How good an actor are you?" she whispered.

"Uh... actor?" Shinji asked.

"My name is Brighid. I'm a soldier for Ithalan, and I'm working undercover to capture Gryza and his men. They will be here soon. But right now, I need you to make noises." she explained.

"What kind of noises?" he asked.

"Like two people having sex!" she grumbled.

"I've never had sex before! I'm 15 years old!" he hissed back to her.

"Oh, Gods! Okay, repeat after me." she said as she gently gripped his shoulders.

(Outside the room...)

"Are you sure she's in there? I don't hear anything." Hord said.

"Followed her up here. Saw her go in here, so..." the other bandit said.

"AH! AH! OH! OH! AH! AH!" an unfamiliar voice sounded from the other side of the door.

"Oh, Yes! So Good!" Brighid's voice sounded from other side of the door.

"Huh. Guess she is taking him." Hord said.

(Inside the room...)

"This is embarrassing." Shinji whispered. "UH! UH! UH! OH! OH!"

"I know. But we just have to keep it up until the Rangers get here. YES! YES! YES!" Brighid whispered before shouting again.


	2. New Friends

_**SHINJIS NEW LIFE  
**_ by Gunman

Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion or anything else.

Summary: Shinji meets a pair of new friends.

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Chapter 2  
 **New Friends**

' _Unfamiliar ceiling._ ' Shinji thought as he opened his eyes, feeling a mattress under him.

Looking around, the room he was in was a rather simple and plain, with two beds and a desk at the corner and a window opposite of him.

Right then, he felt a jolt of pain on his head.

 _'Ouch, what the hell?'_ he thought. "Recovery." He said, while thinking about healing his headache.

To his surprise, it actually worked.

"Wow, that was easier then I expected." He said and got up to look out the window.

Seeing the landscape he saw yesterday after getting reincarnated, he thought. ' _I must have passed out because I was using these new powers against those bandits. That woman who was with them helped me and then those hooded guys seemed to arrest them. Rangers that guy, Gryza, called them.'_

Just then the door opened, which startled him.

"Oh you woke up." a voice said.

He turned to look and saw the woman who helped him and the elf who knocked out one of the bandits.

"How are you feeling?" The 'bandit' woman asked.

"I feel fine now. What happened?" Shinji asked.

"You passed out after my comrades arrested those bandits. Ayl here offered the other bed in her room for me, so I took you here to sleep it off." She answered.

"Thank you both. My name is Shinji." He answered.

"And my name is Brighid. This is Ayl." Brighid introduced.

"Hello." Ayl said simply.

Shinji looked at the elf who was holding a tray of food, which were in bowls. His facial expression hadn't changed not even once during the whole conversation.

"We also brought you food. Eat up." Brighid said as Ayl handed a bowl with a spoon to him.

"What kind of stew is this?" Shinji asked.

"It's made from boar meat." Brighid answered and started eating. Ayl had started after handing the other bowl to him.

Shinji took a spoonful of stew and ate it.

"Hmm, could use a little salt." he commented.

"Yes it would, but salt is hard to come by at the moment." Brighid answered.

Shinji decided to leave asking questions for after finishing the meal. Brighid sat on the other bed across from Shinji while Ayl sat at the desk.

After finishing the meal, Brighid spoke.

"So Shinji, where are you from? I can tell that you're not from around here." she said

' _Now there's an understatement if I ever heard one_.' Shinji thought. "Let's just say that I come from a land far away from here."

"Oh come on. I helped you when you were in trouble so please tell me." Brighid cried out in distress.

Shinji was a bit hesitant to answer.

"It's rude to question someone when they don't want to answer. Especially since he hardly knows you." Ayl spoke, to his surprise.

"But I am really curious. I have never seen a face this cute in my life." Brighid stated.

Shinji felt quite flattered, but wanted to change the topic.

"Uh, Brighid, who are you exactly? You came in with those bandits, but those guys in cloaks didn't arrest you. You called them comrades." he said.

"Aah yes, that requires some explaining. I am a member of Ithalanian Rangers, the kings elite force that apprehends criminals. I infiltrated this bandit group to figure out where their lair was so we could arrest them. That Gryza is responsible for numerous murders and thefts and now we finally caught his entire group, as well as knowing where their lair is, so we can get their stolen loot back to their owners. Gryza and his cronies will be sentenced to death." She explained.

"But how did your friends knew that they would be here?" Shinji asked.

"I left a note at the caravan they raided a week back. My friends were waiting for them to come here because I have been pestering Gryza to take us here for a feast and he finally agreed. The rest you know." Brighid answered.

Based on her explanation, Shinji figured that the Rangers are kinda like the police of this world. He turned to Ayl.

"But why are you helping me Ayl?" he asked her.

"Because I find you very interesting." Ayl answered in a simple manner again.

"Interesting? How?" He asked.

"That power you used is similar to mine." Ayl answered.

"Your power?" He asked.

"I have the power to control wood and from what I saw, you have the power to control metal. I find that very interesting." Ayl answered.

Shinji was amazed how much Ayl had deduced. Then again, pretty much everyone in the Inn had seen what he did.

"Being able to control metal. That is ridiculously amazing. Mostly since the last person to have such a power lived 400 years ago." Brighid said in amazement.

"400 years ago? Are you serious?" Shinji asked, realizing that Galac hadn't explained much of anything to him yesterday.

"Oh, yes. My father told me that he met this person when he was 140 years old." Ayl added.

Shinji looked at the elf in amazement. But then he remembered that elves had a long lifespan in the stories anyway. He remembered one story where an elf was over 3000 years old.

"There are a lot of questions I want to ask you Shinji, but for now I just want to know what you are going to do?" Brighid asked.

"I was heading to the city." He answered.

"Well then, maybe I'll see you there. I have to head to the city to submit my report in full to my superiors. And here is your reward." Brighid said and handed him a small pouch. Shinji could feel some coins inside it. "Since you helped against those bandits, you get 10 silver coins for your trouble." Brighid said.

"Thank you. I was really hurting for money." Shinji said.

"In that case, you should register at the adventurers guild. You can earn money by completing quests for clients." Ayl said.

"What kind of quests are there?" Shinji asked, getting interested about the proposal. The whole thing was exactly like in an Isekai manga.

"There are all kinds of things from gathering herbs to killing monsters and many other special requests." Ayl answered.

"But don't get killed too soon Shinji. I still want to speak with you. Unfortunately, I have to go on ahead to Ithalan, to deliver my report. Goodbye for now." Brighid said and left the room.

"Are you an adventurer Ayl?" Shinji asked when the door closed.

"Yes. I was heading back to Ithalan since I completed the quest I was on." Ayl answered.

"What kind of quest was it?" He asked with a curious look.

"To destroy a giant spiders nest." Ayl answered.

"A whole nest of giant spiders? That's amazing. You are quite brave Ayl." He complimented.

"I know. I have been doing things like this for 164 years now." Ayl retorted.

"A hundred and... How old are you Ayl?" Shinji asked in surprise.

Though he knew elves had a long lifespan but to actually meet someone who looked like a 20 year old but was actually over a 160 years old was quite overwhelming.

"I am 188 years old now." Ayl answered.

He gasped at hearing that.

"Am I the first elf you have met?" Ayl asked with an amused expression.

"Yes. It's a new experience for me, to meet an elf, and who is almost 200 years old." He answered.

"But to me, meeting someone from another world is not a new experience for me." Ayl said suddenly.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, getting nervous that this elf was on to him.

"You can't fool me. You were recently reincarnated into this world from another world, were you not? You showed many clues about that." Ayl said.

"What clues?" Shinji asked, feeling exposed.

"If you were born with an ability to control metal, you would have used it more effectively, but you used it like you had just obtained a power you don't fully understand and you even passed out once the fight was over. Also, your face is too soft and well maintained and your teeth are remarkably straight for a human." Ayl explained.

Shinji was amazed by her deductive skills, but then again, if one lives for almost 200 years, they pick up a skill or two along the way.

He sighed. "Fine, you got me. I was reincarnated to this world from another world yesterday."

"Yesterday? Then it's no wonder that you are still not used to your power. I could teach you how to use it." Ayl said.

"Why would you be willing to help me? Because you are interested in me?" Shinji asked.

"Yes. I am very interested in you. I met another person from another world about 70 years ago, but that person wasn't very likable so I stayed away from him and never saw him again. But as for you, I find your character quite likable." Ayl explained.

"Thank you." he said to her. "Uh... can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Maybe I'm still a little groggy from what happened the other day, but... are you a man or a woman?" Shinji asked.

Ayl smirked a little at his question.

"I am a woman. This cloak I wear has an enchantment that makes me look like a man. It's safer to travel that way." She answered, tugging on the cloak that was still around her shoulders.

"Oh. So would you be willing to teach me Ayl?" Shinji asked hopefully, wanting to spend more time with her now that he knew that Ayl was a woman.

"My price would be that you accompany me when I take on a quest. Your power over metal would be very handy in some quests that I take. Of course we split the reward evenly." She answered.

"Well, I suppose I can accompany you when needed." He answered.

"Good. Now let's go outside and practice for a while before the merchant caravan arrives." She said and started going to the door.

"Merchant caravan?" Shinji asked.

"Yes, the caravan will stop here to deliver food and drink for the innkeeper and then continue towards Ithalan. I'm planning to hitch a ride with them. You are coming with me of course." She answered.

Shinji and Ayl went outside of the Inn and headed over to a grassy hillside not too far away.

"Before we start, I want to appraise your abilities." she said.

Shinji looked at her with a puzzled look.

"In this world, every sentient being is born with affinities to magic. There are six elements to magic which are fire, water, wind, earth, light and darkness magic. I have affinities to fire, wind, earth and light magic, which is quite common for high elves like myself. In light magic there is a spell for appraisal, which can see the abilities of others." Ayl explained.

"And you are going to see what kind of abilities I have?" Shinji asked.

"Yes. I need to know what you can do so I can properly teach you." Ayl answered and cast the spell. Shinji watched as she waved her hands and chanted something in a language he clearly didn't know. Her hands seemed to glow as she waved them in front of Shinji.

And after a minute, she spoke again.

"You have two unique blessings. God of Metal's blessing which gives you the ability to control metal and Goddess of Healing's blessing which gives you an ability to heal anything. You also have affinity for two magic elements. Darkness and water." she said, realizing that his affinity completed her own affinities as well.

"I can use _magic_ as well?" Shinji asked in amazement.

"Yes. Water magic is quite versatile because you don't have to carry water with you, you can use it freely in the forest and you can also create ice projectiles with it. Darkness magic is rare in humans, but you can use it to make a dimensional storage which allows you to carry as much stuff with you as you want and you can also see in the dark with it." She explained.

"Are you going to teach me how to use them?" Shinji asked, excited that he had other powers as well.

"I will, but for now, I will teach you how to control your power over metal." Ayl said and pulled out a knife with a wooden handle. "Since I can manipulate wood to some degree, I can do things with this knife since it has a wooden handle." She said and threw the blade upwards.

Then suddenly the knife stopped in midair and was slowly turning around as it descended slowly.

"My blessing that gives me power over wood was given to me by Libra, Goddess of Nature, when I was only 20 years old. At first the power sapped my strength because my body hadn't adapted to it yet and I even collapsed a couple of times. But with time and practice my body adapted to where I can effortlessly use my power without worry of endangering myself." She paused as the knife came to hover over her extended hand.

Shinji listened intently, finding the whole scene amazing.

"For now, try to hover this knife over your hand like I am doing right now." Ayl instructed and he started to focus.

The knife hovered over to Shinji and now he was rotating and levitating it over his hand.

"Good Shinji, now keep doing that for as long as you can. The point of this exercise is to get your body adapted to your blessing." Ayl said and sat down on the grass and started counting her money to pass the time.

About half an hour later, Ayl spoke again.

"Are you feeling any fatigue Shinji?" she asked.

"No, I think that my body is more accustomed now." He answered, feeling a bit proud about it. "I think going slow was a good start. Plus I had something to eat beforehand."

Ayl looked at him in slight shock. "You didn't have anything to eat before you showed up at the Inn? No wonder you passed out after using your powers so much. Here." she said as she took a copper coin from her money pouch. "Now take this coin and roll it around your other hand." Ayl said as she tossed the coin into the air.

Shinji focused on the coin, catching it in mid-air, and then, with some difficulty, he managed to move the coin over ad around his other hand.

"Now try to hold both of them like that for as long as you can." Ayl said and chanted some kind of spell and focused to the forest in front of them. Shinji wondered what she was doing before turning his attention back to training.

It was a little over 15 minutes later when Ayl suddenly spoke up.

"The caravan is approaching." she said.

Shinji turned to look down the hill and saw 5 wagons slowly approaching them along the road.

"Looks like we will be heading out soon Shinji. We can continue the practice in the wagon." Ayl said as she headed down towards them.

"How much is the ride going to cost?" He asked.

"The usual price is 1 silver, but since there might be goblins between here and the city, they will probably let us ride with them for free." she said.

Shinji wasn't too thrilled about that. He'd never faced a goblin before. And, he was sure, it wouldn't be one goblin.

As Ayl approached the caravan she saw that the riders were unloading supplies for the Innkeeper. She noticed that there was no bag of salt.

' _Hmm. The Salt Mine must still be under occupation by that creature_.' she thought.

While Shinji kept behind Ayl, the elven adventurer began haggling with the caravan leader. After a couple of minutes, she turned back to Shinji.

"Alright. We're good. Let's go." Ayl said as she climbed into the second wagon followed by Shinji.

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The caravan set on to the city, which was at least a few days towards the west. The road they were taking was along the mountain range, heading west. Ayl informed Shinji that the city of Ithalan was situated right between two different mountain ranges. The range that ran from East to West was called the Wall of Trombone, supposedly created by the Gods eons ago to prevent a race of giants from invading the forests and plains that were south of their homelands. At the western edge of the Wall of Trombone where it stopped, another mountain range started. This range ran from North to South and was called The Range of Galfront, named for a half-elf explorer who climbed to each of the seven tallest peaks along the range and planted a flag on each of the peaks themselves. Which was in of itself impressive, since all of the seven peaks were said to be unscalable.

The great city of Ithalan was nestled right between the two mountain ranges, acting as more of a dam to prevent unwanted creatures from the North from invading the lands to the South.

The southern half of the city was a more open area, where most merchants and traders did their business. The northern half of the city was of a walled-off, fortress-type design, meant to keep any and all creatures from the north from invading the southern lands of Caratharas. Originally the pass between the two mountain ranges was open and allowed all manner of creature access to the Southern lands of Caratharas.

The city itself had been built as a 'stopper' of sorts to keep the southern lands safe from these creatures.

It was nearly sunset when the caravan suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Ayl asked the driver.

"There's something lying in the middle of the road."

"Something?" Ayl asked as she stood up and gasped at what she saw.

"What is it?" Shinji asked.

"It's a werebear!" she said.

"A what?"

"It's like a bear, only three times the size. Were-creatures are usually two or three times the size of regular creatures."

"Really. What's it doing?" he asked.

"It's just lying in the middle of the road. Something's wrong with it." she said.

Curious, Shinji jumped out of the wagon and approached the head of the caravan.

"Shinji!" Ayl shouted as she followed him.

"It's hurt!" he said as he rushed up to the creature.

"SHINJI!" Ayl shouted, racing after him.

The werebear growled at Shinji, who approached it slowly and cautiously. He saw that there was a large spear protruding from it's side.

"Someone tried to kill him. Her. It." he said as he started to circle the large creature.

Ayl looked around, her elf-eyes seeing something further up in the forest that was to their left. It was a dead troll with several claw marks on its body.

' _Hmm. The troll must have been hunting, came across the werebear, tried to kill it for lunch, and got more than it bargained for._ ' she thought as she turned towards Shinji.

Focusing his powers on the spear, Shinji carefully pulled it from the bears side.

"AROOOOGH!" the bear growled in pain as the spear came loose.

"Easy. Easy." he said as he kept his hands up and tried to get closer to it.

"Shinji, don't!" Ayl said to him, but the boy didn't seem to listen. Or at least didn't seem to hear her.

The werebear seemed to regard Shinji with some suspicion. However, another part of it seemed to sense his intentions. Plus it was too weak from blood loss to actually do anything. It did notice the elf with her swords in her hands and seemed to be keeping close to the boy.

"Recovery." Shinji said as he placed his hands on the werebear, near it's large, still-gushing wound.

The wound healed within seconds, the werebear instantly feeling better.

Everyone watched as the creature stood up on its four large paws, towering over the caravan by several feet. It looked at Shinji for several seconds, before sniffing him, roaring at him, and then lumbering away back into the forest.

"Whew! That was..." Shinji started to say, when suddenly...

WHACK!

"OWW!" Shinji cried out as Ayl struck him on his head.

"Don't You Ever Do Anything Like That Again! Werebears and not known to be gentle creatures!" she all but screamed at him as she sheathed her weapons. "It could have decided to eat you for sheer convenience. Not that you'd give it much nourishment. You're so skinny." she chided him.

"Sorry." he said, slightly cowed by the she-elf. "I was only trying to help. Besides, it was blocking the whole road. And if I didn't, they might have killed it. It might have had a family or something that missed it."

Ayl could feel a huge tick mark form on her head as she continued to glare at him.

"I was only trying to do the right thing." he added.

Sigh. "You have compassion, Shinji. Let's hope it doesn't become your undoing." she warned him before grabbing his shirt and pulling him back into the wagon. "I mean, honestly! You may have the blessings of the Gods, but you're not invincible! That was incredibly stupid!"

As the caravan moved on, Ayl felt something tinge at the back of her neck. She looked at the forest for a few seconds, seeing nothing.

The caravan was almost out of sight, when a tree branch moved, revealing a pair of dark eyes watching them as they left.

A couple miles down the road they stopped and made camp for the night.

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Authors Notes:

Here's chapter 2. Big thanks to **Reisfriend** for writing most of this.

Hope everyone enjoyed this update. And yes, Shinji approaching a bear the size of an elephant wasn't smart, but I'm kinda making him 'compassionate yet foolish' since he still has much to learn about this world. Reality and what you read in fantasy are two different things.

And I was using the bear scene from 'The Wolverine' for the werebear creature. You know, the one Logan killed after it was poisoned with a hunters arrow. I saved the creature but it wasn't meant to be anything more than Shinji demonstrating his power of healing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

OMAKE!

Ayl just smirked as she looked at two of her adventuring friends who had practically cornered Shinji shortly after they had stopped for lunch.

The first woman was a lean and athletic woman wearing a reddish Ranger outfit with a bow and quiver full of arrows, she had long dark-brown hair and blue eyes. The second woman was taller, more muscular, wearing heavy purple armor and carrying a large mallet. She had short sandy-blond hair and green eyes.

"Who are you?" The female Ranger asked.

"I am Shinji Ikari." he answered.

"And you are traveling with Ayl over there?" the larger, armored woman asked.

"Yes." he said. "I've just registered with the adventurers guild and..." he said as he removed his hood to reveal his face.

"OOOOHHHH! WHAT A BABE!" the armored woman screamed excitedly, with little hearts in her eyes.

"Oh, no." Shinji gasped as he suddenly dodged the large woman, running around the Inn.

Ayl just sat at the table and drank her ale, while her young friend was being chased about by one of her own adventuring buddies.

The Ranger woman got into the act, more chasing the armored woman to try and keep her from killing Shinji with overt affection.


	3. Goblin Fight and Reach The City

**_SHINJIS NEW LIFE  
_** by Gunman

Disclaimer: I do not own Eva or it's characters.

Summary: Shinji and Ayl face some goblins and finally reach the city.

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Chapter 3  
 **Goblin Fight and Reach The City**

The caravan had stopped at a clearing next to the road and set up camp. Cooking fires were made where the drivers and guards could roast their food. Ayl and Shinji were sitting next to each other at their own campfire.

"Shinji, what you did earlier was incredibly reckless." Ayl scolded.

"I know." Shinji said back, remembering the whack she had given him. It had been hours ago and yet she was still angry. "But I was just trying to do the right thing." Shinji said back.

"The right thing to do would have been to finish off that werebear. What if someone who is only gathering herbs runs into it? That person will become it's meal. Or what if it had decided to attack the caravan? That thing would have slaughtered everyone. Only I am strong enough to fight it in this group." Ayl said.

"Is it really necessary to kill all the monsters?" Shinji asked.

"Yes! These monsters exist only to kill sentient races. I have lost many friends to these monsters. And many parents have also lost their children to those creatures as well. Some of them even experienced something worse then being torn apart." Ayl said.

"Which is?" Shinji asked, hoping that she wouldn't say what he thought she would.

"Goblins kidnap women and use them as breeding tools." Ayl answered with a disgusted look. "And not just them. Trolls and Orcs also do that."

Shinji grimaced. That's exactly what he thought she might say.

"Alright. Next time we see a monster like that, I'll kill them." he agreed.

"Good, Shinji." Ayl said and started to eat the meat she was roasting.

Shinji did the same. While the meat was juicy and tasty, it could have used some condiments to make it even better. He thought that maybe those things were rare on adventurers.

"Ayl, do adventurers carry any spices with them?" Shinji asked.

"No. In the wilderness you have to travel lightly, especially if you don't have a dimensional storage bag or water magic. But I agree that this meat could use some spices." She answered.

"Right. And you were going to teach me those things?" He asked.

"Yes. Once we reach the city, I will teach you and when I feel confident that you can do well enough, I will take you to the Adventurers Guild and have you join my party. Unless you don't want to become an adventurer." She said.

"No. It would be better if I joined The Guild. I was brought here for a purpose. To help people. Have you thought about what kind of quest we will take when I'm ready?" He asked.

"We are going to destroy the monster occupying the salt mine so that Inn's and Tavern's can finally get their share's of salt." She answered.

"And why hasn't anyone taken care of that already?" He asked.

"Because the monster is composed of mithril. Mithril is one of the hardest materials in this world and it is resistant to magic. Not many adventurers have weapons that can kill a mithril golem and killing it with magic takes a lot of effort. But with your powers, we can easily kill it and collect the reward." She answered.

"So I will destroy it with my power and we split the reward? How dangerous is this monster?" Shinji asked.

"The monster is a B-rank, so the reward will be pretty high. The owner of the mine is offering a 20 gold coin reward for destroying it, and if we can salvage mithril from its body, we can sell it for a good price somewhere between 50 and 80 gold coins." She answered.

"Wow." Shinji said, but something about that didn't seem right. "But would you mind explaining the currency system of this world to me?" he asked.

"Of course." she said as she took out a copper, silver and gold coin from her purse. "In this world we use copper, silver, gold and platinum coins as currency. 1 silver coin is worth 100 copper coins, 1 gold coin is worth 10 silver and the platinum coin is worth 10 gold, but platinum coins are rare. Only the king has platinum coins in his treasury. And I have seen only one platinum coin in my entire life." She answered, waving the individual coins as examples.

"Got it. Thank you Ayl." Shinji thanked and continued his meal. Ayl did the same.

While they were eating, Shinji failed to notice how the caravan guards, merchants and drivers where whispering something to each other while looking at them, but Ayl heard them with her superior senses.

"Shinji, you attracted a lot of attention how you dealt with that werebear." Ayl said.

"And that is a bad thing?" He asked, now feeling a bit concerned.

"Could be. No one has ever seen anything like what you did today. You healed a werebear, almost instantly, and then it just walked away. That kind of thing could draw unwanted attention to yourself from undesirables and powerful people. So from now on, don't show off your powers carelessly." Ayl instructed.

"Undesirables?" he asked.

"Not a lot of people in this world have healing abilities like yours. Such a power could be used by wicked and evil people to heal their own kind, which would not be a good thing. To say nothing about keeping you from people who could really use your help."

Shinji hadn't considered that. Something else he needed to be careful of.

"Very well then." Shinji said.

"Good. Now, rest up. Practice, if you want. I need to run a quick errand." Ayl said and wandered off into the darkness.

Shinji nodded and finished up his meal. He took out the coins that Brighid had left with him and begun to practice levitating them. But all through it, Shinji couldn't help but feel he was being watched. He kept looking around the camp, thinking that the caravan drivers and guards were the ones watching, but saw no one.

Almost an hour later, Ayl returned and sat down next to Shinji. The young man looked up and saw that she was holding the very spear that he had pulled from the werebear.

"Is that the troll spear I pulled out of that werebear?" Shinji asked.

"Yes, but it's not a troll spear. The design is dwarfish, so we might get to trade it up for some gold." Ayl said bluntly.

"Isn't that spear pretty long for a dwarf? And why did a troll have a weapon like that?" Shinji asked.

"It probably belonged to an adventurer. Most likely made for a human by a dwarf." she explained. "It's too bad that you won't be able to use it in a fight." She stated.

"Why not?" Shinji asked.

"It's too long to wield, even for me. Might make a good jousting lance, if I was rising a horse. But even if you fly it around with your power, you can only strike at one enemy at the time, which could be fatal against multiple enemies." She answered.

Before Shinji could say anything else, they heard a scream from behind them.

"GRAAAAHHH!" "AMBUSH!"

Shinji and Ayl heard the guards yelling before Ayl noticed about a dozen goblins charging at them from the treeline.

The guards drew their swords as did Ayl and ran at the goblins. Shinji couldn't see much at first but then Ayl launched a fireball at the goblins, which illuminated the area a bit. Now he could see some of the goblins and used his power to send the spear flying at the goblin on the far right and managed to impale it through the neck.

Ayl and the guards were furiously fighting the goblins and Shinji saw one of the guards getting stabbed on the side as Ayl cut off the head from one goblin nearby. He saw a few of the goblins charge towards him. Focusing his powers, he pulled the spear out of the goblin he impaled and hurled it at the goblins. The long spear was spinning through the air, striking the goblins as it spun, and then skewering them like shish-ka-bob before it impaled itself against a large tree.

Ayl cut down another goblin that tried to stab one of the drivers, only for another goblin to take its place. She was quick to notice that several goblins were advancing on her position. It was like they realized she was the major threat. She pulled her knife out of her back sheath and blocked an attack by a third goblin, spinning around to kick it in the face. She twisted her sword to slide down the blade of the first goblin she had been fighting, slicing its neck and nearly taking its head clean off. She then hurled her knife into the neck of the third goblin she had kicked earlier, ending it's life.

Three more goblins attacked her, this time as a group and from the front. Ayl deflected their attacks with swift precision, knocking their swords away with a strong thrust and then severing their heads from their bodies. She was breathing hard, having put considerable effort behind that last attack.

Suddenly, an arrow hit Ayl in the thigh causing her to cry out in pain. She collapsed to the ground as a couple more goblins rushed up to her. Shinji looked at the direction where the arrow came from and saw a goblin with a bow.

He grabbed a dagger from off the ground and flew it at the goblins that were advancing on Ayl, slicing them across their throats, and then flew the dagger back to the goblin with the bow, impaling it in the stomach. The caravan guards were quick to finish it off, as Shinji ran to where Ayl was lying..

"AYL!" Shinji shouted as he approached her.

"Shit. This is not how I want to die." Ayl groaned as she looked at the arrow on her thigh with a pained expression before she pulled it out. "ARGH!"

"I'll heal you Ayl." Shinji and was about to start but she stopped him by grabbing his wrist.

"Wait. The arrow was poisoned. Even if you heal the wound, the poison will kill me." She said through gritted teeth.

"Then what do I do?" He asked.

"Try curing the poison first by saying 'cure'." She said.

Shinji focused his healing power and said: "Cure".

Ayls leg glowed slightly as she felt the disgusting feeling fade away as Shinji's healing took effect. Then she only felt the pain of the wound on her thigh.

"Recovery." Shinji said and the wound closed, looking like there was never any injury.

"It worked. You cured the poison in my body." she said as she stood up, feeling no pain whatsoever. "Go, help the others." She said and Shinji went to the guards who were injured.

Two guards were injured and one was dead. Shinji healed the one who had an arrow in his stomach and cured the poison and then the wound while the other had a deep cut on his leg.

"Thank you, lad. I thought I was dead for sure." The guard who had an arrow in his stomach thanked Shinji.

"Yeah. Wasn't sure I'd walk again. My thanks." The guard with the deep cut on his leg said.

"You're welcome." Shinji said and went back to Ayl.

The elf adventurer was looking at the spear that was imbedded in the tree, and the four goblins that were impaled on it. She looked at Shinji as he approached her.

"I see you found a way to take out multiple enemies at one time." Ayl said to him.

"Uh. Yeah. They didn't exactly stand in a straight line, though." he said as he used his power to draw out the spear from the tree, pushing the goblins off of it as he did.

"Good work, Shinji. You actually killed the goblins without hesitation." Ayl complimented as Shinji wiped off the blood and put the spear back in the wagon.

"Are you feeling better?" He asked.

"I'll live. But if it wasn't for you, I would have died." She retorted.

"What kind of poison was in those arrows?" Shinji asked.

"Goblins use their own urine and excrements as poison. They are poisonous and there is no known antidote. Only those with the blessing of the Goddess of Healing can cure it." She answered, which made Shinji want to vomit in disgust.

"But how did you know what I had to say in order to cure the poison?" He asked.

"I once met someone who could cure all poisons because she had a partial blessing from the Goddess of Healing. Luckily you can use the same healing as that person." She answered.

"Yes, otherwise I would have lost my first friend in this world." Shinji said.

"Don't let it get to your head." She said and pulled her knife from her belt. "Now, gather up their weapons while I collect their ears."

Shinji did as she instructed, but paused when he realized what she had said.

"Wait. Their ears?" he asked.

"Yes. The Guild pays a bounty on these creatures, but you need to show proof you killed them. Usually you'd have to present their heads, but their ears are often good enough. And we can probably trade the weapons for something as well." she said as she started cutting the goblins ears off.

"Hmm. Like trophies?" he asked.

"Something like that" she answered.

Once Ayl and Shinji had collected their trophies, the leader of the caravan, a middle-aged man named Horst came over.

"Me and the men would like to thank you for your help. If you hadn't been here, we all would have died, gutted by those abominations." He said.

"It was only fair. After all, you agreed to take us to Ithalan and even offered us food." Ayl replied.

"We will take shifts guarding the camp, you two can rest. We'll wake you at dawn." Horst said and went to talk to the guards.

"Let's sleep now Shinji. We're still half a day away from Ithalan." Ayl said and climbed into the wagon. Shinji followed suit and it wasn't long until they were both asleep.

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Shinji woke up just as the sun was about to rise, mostly because he had a habit of waking up early in his previous world. To make breakfast for his guardian and roommate. He tried to get up, but he felt something on his chest. Looking down he saw that Ayl was using his chest as a pillow.

Shinji managed not to gasp and tried to wake her up. "Wake up Ayl."

Instead, she just turned to her side, her head still on his chest.

He started to shake her. "Please wake up Ayl."

She opened her eyes and soon noticed that she was using Shinji's chest as a pillow. She quickly rose up.

"Sorry about that. I must have moved in my sleep again." she said with a yawn.

"Don't worry about it. I just didn't want anyone to see that because it would have created all sorts of misunderstandings. They think you're a man." Shinji retorted.

"Yes, that would have been embarrassing." She stated and pulled her hood on and got out of the wagon.

Shinji also put his cloak on and went after her. Shinji noticed that Ayl was watching the guards piling the dead goblins.

"What are they going to do with the bodies?" Shinji asked her.

"They will burn them. Goblin corpses soil the ground otherwise and their stench will attract beasts. Fire magic will completely incinerate them without smell." She answered.

"No wonder. I can smell their stench from here." Shinji said, holding his nose and trying not to vomit.

"Are there goblins in your world?" Ayl asked.

"No. In my previous world, we have no monsters and no other races like you do here. Only humans." He answered.

"I see. I suppose there is no magic either." Ayl stated.

"No. But there is all kinds of technology that would amaze you." Shinji countered.

"Is that right? Tell me about them someday." Ayl said.

"Sure. And you can tell me more about this world." Shinji said.

"I will have you read a book about it. Explaining everything about this world would be too tedious." She said.

"There are books in this world?" Shinji asked.

"Yes, though they are rare. Making a book takes time and copying one with illustrations takes even longer if the one copying is not as good as the author of the original. The Adventurers Guild has an extensive library where adventurers can read them for free. Anyone who is not an Adventurer has to pay for it." Ayl explained and right after that the guards lit the corpses on fire.

"By the way Ayl, what was that spell you used at the inn when I was practicing?" Shinji asked.

"It was a detection spell. It's a light magic spell that allows me to see the aura of living creatures in a certain distance." She answered.

"How far can you see?" Shinji asked.

"About 100 meters." Ayl answered.

The drivers had started to make the wagons and horses ready. Horst was handing out bread for guards and drivers who were ready and he handed a bread for Shinji and Ayl as well. Ayl explained that they would eat them while on the move.

About 10 minutes later the horses were pulling the wagons again and Shinji was practicing his power with a copper coin.

"Ayl, what kind of a city is Ithalan?" Shinji asked.

"It is the capital of this country. The city is divided into districts and there are all sorts of shops, inn's and even brothels for those who can afford it." She answered.

"What kind of districts?" Shinji asked, deciding not to ask about brothels.

"There is the Nobles District, Commoner's District, Financial District where most shops and inn's are as well as the guild, then there's Army District where the army trains it's soldiers and houses them and their equipment. There are vast farmlands outside the city walls and rich mines in the mountains. Then there is the Royal District where the King and his family live in their fortress castle, along with their elite guards." She answered.

"And is there an inn where I can stay for the time being?" Shinji asked.

"The inn where I'm staying has good food and reasonable prices. You can get 2 nights in a room and meals for 1 silver." She answered.

"Sounds reasonable for now. I'll just have to earn more money with you." He answered and switched hands with the coin he was using for practice.

Ayl just nodded for that.

It was almost 5 hours later when the city finally came into view.

"There it is, Shinji. Ithalan, capital of Caratharas." Ayl said

Shinji gasped as he saw the city come into view.

The city itself was like something out of a fantasy novel. High walls made of thick stone surrounded the inner districts of the massive city, with the buildings seeming to get taller and taller the further in you went. The walls looked like a combination of limestone and granite, giving it an almost tannish color. Flags and banners adorned the parapets, a symbol that Shinji did not recognize. Further towards what Shinji felt like was the center of the city was a massive towering castle where the King and his family lived. It was large and majestic looking, like something out of a European fantasy story, with four towers standing at opposite points of the large single tower in the middle of it all. The middle tower was twice the height of the other four towers, and at least three times the width. Flags adorned each of the towers themselves, and each of the four towers were connected by a stone bridge. Guards could be seen walking along the bridges, despite being so far away.

The city itself seemed to be at least three square miles, though Shinji wasn't exactly sure. It felt like it was the size of the city of Rome, from that one movie that he and Kensuke and Toji once watched called _Gladiator._ The walls to the city were so wide that it seemed to be never ending. The main gate to the city was large, at least 30 feet in height and width, with massive wooden doors and a steel portcullis that could be lowered and raised with ease.

Shinji had noticed several houses and farms outside the city as they passed and headed to the Gate. It made sense, since you couldn't grow crops inside a city with buildings so close to each other. Dozens and dozens of people were coming and going, and the Gate was being watched by armored soldiers.

Once the wagons had stopped at the main gate, Horst got out and spoke with the guards. After a few minutes, the caravan was allowed to pass through the Gate.

"So, what do we do now?" Shinji asked.

"We'll stop at the Adventurers Guild and drop off our trophies and the weapons, and then, get some lunch." Ayl said.

"Of course." Shinji said.

Once the caravan had stopped at the market place, Ayl and Shinji bid farewell to Horst and the others. They carried the goblin weapons and trophies to the Adventurers Guild, Ayl taking the lead.

The Guild Headquarters looked like a large mansion of sorts, but with an air of military decorum that only made Shinji think of some kind of police station. The building itself was at least three stories high with stone blocks on the outside, but inside it was decorated with wood walls and carpets, giving it a rather homey feel. There were three counters set up in the main entryway of the first floor. One to the left, one straight ahead of the main door, and one to the right.

Shinji just watched as Ayl took the weapons and her bag of goblin ears over to the counter on the right and spoke with a large man wearing a dull-gray suit with a leather apron. The man didn't seem very impressed with the goblin weapons, but seemed to perk up when he saw the bag of goblin ears and the dwarvish spear she had with her. He handed Ayl a bag and she walked back over to Shinji.

"How did it go?" Shinji asked.

"Well, Bolgan over there was more interested in the spear we brought back. He gave us ten gold for the spear, the goblin ears and the weapons." she said as she handed Shinji five gold coins.

"Well, that's nice." he said as he put the money in his coin bag. "So, what now?"

"I will report that I completed the giant spider quest and then we head for the inn." she said and went to the counter on the other side of the one she had come from.

Shinji looked around the room and noticed several bulletin boards and some armed people looking at the sheets that were posted on them. He noticed a couple of tall well-endowed women who had two horns on their foreheads and one girl who was a little taller than him. She had aqua blue hair and had a trident-like spear on her back. She was looking at the board so he didn't see her face.

He looked at Ayl's direction and saw that the receptionist was a rather beautiful woman in her early 20 and she had sky blue eyes and a waist long hair of the same color.

Ayl received her money and came back to Shinji. "Now that we are done here, let's go to the inn. We will get you registered after I have trained you to use your magic." Shinji nodded and followed her out.

The pair said nothing as they walked two blocks over to where the Inn was. Shinji was just looking around at the town, which seemed pretty clean and otherwise normal looking, for a Medieval-looking city that tried to be as modern as what he knew from his own world.

The pair stopped at the Inn, which looked a bit fancier than the one where Shinji had met Ayl and Brigid in.

"Lets go in. I'm starving." Ayl said as she walked in ahead of Shinji.

The young man followed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Authors Notes:

I was trying to describe the city of Ithalan and the Guild headquarters, based on the city of E-Rantel and the Guild from the anime _Overlord._ (Watch it! It's all sorts of things wrapped together, including funny) I was also trying to describe it from Shinji's POV, which is difficult since he doesn't have a lot of experience in things like this. So adding the movie _Gladiator_ to this by having Kensuke and Toji watch movies with him seemed appropriate. This version of Shinji is supposed to be more normal than his introverted canon counterpart, but there are still a lot of things he doesn't know.

The goblins, trolls and other races in this I keep imagining as more from the _Lord of the Rings_ movies, but also from other animes like Isekai and the like.

Anyway, please read and review.


	4. Talk With A Goddess And A New Friend

_**SHINJIS NEW LIFE  
**_ by Gunman & Reisfriend

Disclaimer: We own nothing.

Summary: Lianna appears before Shinji to give him advice.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 4  
 **Talk With A Goddess And A New Friend**

Ayl opened the double doors of the Inn and Shinji looked around to see that the left wall had some landscape paintings and there were small round tables with stools around the entrance hall and a small stage at the right wall.

There was a bar counter at the end of the hall with colored bottles on the shelf behind the counter and a door near the counter, which likely lead to the kitchen, Shinji figured.

Ayl walked over to the counter and rapped on the top of it with her fist.

"Just a minute." They heard from the kitchen. And a few seconds later a young woman about 17 years old came out. She was wearing black leather pants and a short sleeved black leather shirt that hugged her G-cup breasts and she had leather sandals with white socks. Her short, light brown hair barely touched her shoulders and her eyes were light green.

"Hello Hana, I have returned." Ayl told the girl.

"AYL!" Hana shouted and suddenly jumped on Ayl, hugging her tightly.

Ayl looked rather amused at the sudden hug.

"How did your quest go?" Hana asked.

"Aside from getting caught up in a rain, it went quite well." Ayl answered.

"I'm just glad to see you again. It has been rather boring without you here." Hana said and released Ayl. She noticed Shinji standing behind Ayl, giving him a questioning look. "And who might this be?" she asked.

"This is Shinji. I met him at the Hearth Inn. I decided to take him as my apprentice." Ayl answered.

"Nice to meet you Shinji. I am Hana, the receptionist and cook of The Silver Eagle's Inn." She greeted him and extended her hand to him.

"Nice to meet you Hana." Shinji replied and shook her hand. He thought that she was quite friendly and beautiful. Unlike his roommate Asuka, who was only beautiful. Shinji noticed that she had thin scars on her fingers.

"So Ayl, are you taking your usual room?" Hana asked.

"No, I would like a room with two beds." Ayl answered.

"We have 2 such rooms available, on the second floor. That would be 2 silvers." Hana said.

"Shinji." Ayl said as she pulled out one silver coin from her pocket. Getting the hint, he pulled out one silver coin and they handed them to Hana.

"Alright. Do you want something to eat? We still have some meatbuns and bread left from breakfast." Hana asked.

"Yes, please, I'm starving. And a bottle of mead." Ayl answered as her stomach growled suddenly, which made Shinji and Hana snicker at how adorable and well-timed that was.

"Of course." Hana said and went to the kitchen.

"She is quite friendly." Shinji said to Ayl.

"That she is. That's one of the reasons why she is so popular with the customers and adventurers who rent rooms here." Ayl retorted.

"I bet. In my world, she would have also been quite popular." Shinji said.

Hana came out from the kitchen carrying a tray with the food on it. She set the tray on the counter and grabbed a small bottle from the shelf, which she set next to the tray. Then she reached for a key beneath the counter which she set next to the bottle.

"There you go. Enjoy." Hana said. Ayl handed two more silver coins to her after taking the tray while Shinji took the bottle and the key.

"I'll see you later, Hana." Ayl said.

She just smiled at Ayl before going back to the kitchen.

Shinji followed Ayl upstairs and when they got to the door that was their rented room, Shinji opened it and as they entered, Shinji noted that the room had two beds with sheets and mattresses, one small window, a desk and a lantern on it. There was also a small closet near the left bed.

"These beds look comfortable." Shinji said.

"They are, since they are of higher quality here in the city. But let's eat now." Ayl said and started eating one of the meatbuns after setting the tray on the table that was between the beds.

"Why did you give Hana two more silver coins?" Shinji asked suddenly.

"While meals are included when you rent a room, you have to pay for the alcoholic drinks separately." Ayl answered.

"Oh. And why wasn't there anyone downstairs? Is this place not doing well?" Shinji asked.

"Oh, no. This time of day everyone is just out doing their jobs, so there is no need to keep the full staff during the day. The place get's busy in the mornings and evenings so that's when the staff comes in." Ayl answered before taking a swig of mead.

Shinji nodded and took another bite of the bun. It was good, far superior to anything Misato could have cooked. Ayl offered the bottle to him.

"I'm underaged to drink that." he said to her.

"How old are you?" Ayl asked.

"I'm 15." He answered.

"In this world, you're an adult when you are 15. So drink up." Ayl said.

Shinji decided to just take a swig because he was curious as to how the mead of this world tasted.

As the liquid went down his throat, he felt a tingly sensation but the mead was quite sweet and tasty. He could get used to this drink.

"Quite tasty." Shinji answered and placed the bottle on the table.

"That it is. The winemakers know their thing." Ayl said and took another swig.

"You're not going to get drunk are you?" Shinji asked, reminding him of Misato by the way she drank.

"Of course not. I have a great tolerance for booze. I just need some for a short nap before I begin training you." Ayl said and suddenly took off her cloak.

In seconds, Ayl's form changed from a man to a woman. She was a foot shorter then Shinji, her hair was golden brown and very long, reaching past her slim waist. And the clothing she had on was something like a dominatrix swimsuit that exposed a lot of skin and showed off her huge breasts that would have made even Misato jealous and his two friends, Toji and Kensuke, would have died of nosebleeds.

Her eyes were light gold and quite captivating in Shinji's mind. She also had leather boots that almost reached her knees.

"So Shinji, what do you think of my real form?" Ayl asked in a harmonious and beautiful voice that was almost like music.

"So beautiful." Shinji answered, thinking that he must have sounded pretty stupid just now.

"Fufu, I knew you would say something like that. Have you fallen in love with me now?" She asked with a teasing smirk.

' _What the hell is this sudden change of personality?! She is kinda like Misato_!' Shinji thought, finding her teasing to be harder to endure then Misato's because even she didn't wear risque clothes like the one Ayl had on.

"Maybe a little." Shinji answered her question.

She flopped down next to him and grabbed his arm, hugging it between her breasts. "Are you sure that you are not completely bewitched by me?" She asked with a toothy grin.

' _Uwaaah! What a softness! Breasts like this would feel incredible to the touch_!' Shinji thought as he felt her breasts with his arm. They were so soft that any man would want to fondle them forever.

"You won't bewitch me with something like this." Shinji replied, deciding to play along with her flirtatious teasing.

"Ohh. Then how about this?" She asked before she blew into his ear.

"That won't work." Shinji replied. 'If she wants to play around for now, then let's play along.' He thought. "Now it's my turn Ayl." Shinji said as he blew into her ear.

"HYA." Ayl moaned out rather cutely.

' _So her ears are sensitive. Good to know_.' He thought, remembering a couple of mangas where the elves had sensitive ears. And her elongated ears seemed to be really sensitive since he didn't even blew that hard.

"Take this." Shinji said and started to tickle her sides.

"NYAHAAHHAAHAHAHAHAHA! STOP THAT! NO! AHAHAHAHAHA!" Ayl laughed like crazy as he tickled her without mercy.

' _So she is ticklish as well. An unexpected cuteness and weakness discovered_.' He thought in triumph and stopped tickling her after a minute.

"AHHAAHAHA! Huaah." Ayl sighted when the tickling stopped and she was gasping for air.

"You're quite ticklish Ayl. I must admit that it is rather cute." Shinji complimented with a teasing smirk.

She giggled. "Well that was fun Shinji. I thought that you are some kind of serious man, but you also have a playful side to you. I'm starting to like you even more."

"Well I'm glad to hear that you like me Ayl. I also like you." Shinji replied with a small blush.

"Mufufu. As much as I would like to continue this little play, let's finish eating and drinking and take a short nap before training." She replied.

Shinji didn't usually take naps, but considering how hard it was to move around in a world with no motorized vehicles and how much walking one had to do while carrying stuff, naps were a pretty good idea.

So they just ate the food and drank the mead without talking and drifted off to sleep on their beds.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was about 4 hours later when Shinji woke up only to see Lianna's face hovering over him.

"Time to wake up Shinji." Lianna said.

"Lianna-sama." He said before he rose up from the comfortable bed to look at her.

"Good job making it this far Shinji. Now we can have that little talk that I promised you." She said with a kind smile.

He looked at Ayl, only to see her still sleeping with her mouth slightly open.

"Oh don't worry about her, she won't wake up as long as I'm here. I'm using one of my powers to keep her asleep." Lianna said.

"Oh, okay. But where is Galac?" Shinji asked after not seeing her father in the room.

"I came alone. Father is currently seeing his other Champion in another parallel world, where 9 out of 10 people are women." She answered.

' _I'm a bit jealous of that bastard_.' Shinji thought a bit jealously.

"You don't need to see my father about your powers. Since you have my cousins favorite elf training you in how to use your powers, Galac figured that he didn't need to explain things to you. I can tell you this. You have the full blessing of my father, so if it is metal, you can manipulate and control it however you can imagine. As your body becomes more adapted to it, you can control larger quantities of metal. However, moving a mountain is impossible, even if it was completely composed of metal." Lianna explained.

"Got it. How long do you think my body becomes completely adapted to it?" Shinji asked.

"If you keep practicing with coins, gradually moving on to larger metal objects, then I'd say about two weeks at the most, then your body will be fully adapted." She answered.

"Okay. By the way, your cousin is Libra, Goddess of Nature, isn't she?" Shinji asked.

"Yes. She gave a partial blessing to Ayl when she was younger. She can control 3 large logs of wood at most. The only difference between your powers is that yours are stronger then hers, since you have a full blessing, and she can control wood while you can control metal. So her training you is a good thing." Lianna explained.

"But can I trust her?" Shinji asked, thinking that this might be too good to be true.

"You don't have to worry about Ayl betraying you. I have also watched her over the years and I have never seen her betraying those that she likes. And my cousin also thanks you for saving her life when she was poisoned." She answered.

"You saw that?" Shinji asked.

"Of course, I have watched you ever since we left you at the meadow. The part were Ayl moved to use you as a pillow was quite funny." Lianna giggled.

"Give me some privacy when I sleep, please." Shinji said in embarrassed tone.

She giggled harder before she talked again.

"But anyway, I should give you an explanation about your healing powers." she said.

"Yes, please." Shinji said, eager to hear what he could do.

"First and foremost, you can use a chant 'Appraise' to see what kind of condition a person has. You can use it to see what kind of chant you need to use to heal them. Try casting 'Appraise' on Ayl now."

Shinji did as the goddess told him and said 'Appraise'.

A green status screen appeared over the elf, (like in the movie _Jumanji Welcome To The Jungle_ ) which had her name, age and race at the top and on the bottom there was a text 'Conditions: None'.

"Since Ayl is completely healthy, there are no conditions on her. But if there were, then the screen would show you the chant needed to heal her and on her body there would also be lights, which indicate where you have to focus your healing power to heal the conditions she has. Like for instance, if she had a heart condition, there would be a light where her heart is. And the light is visible only to you. This ability is most useful when you are healing conditions on a person." Lianna explained.

To Shinji, the whole thing was like something out of RPG game.

"What kind of chant's are there?" Shinji asked.

"As you know by now, 'Recovery' heals physical injuries like cuts, bruises, wounds and headache's. 'Cure' is used to neutralize and cure poisons. If someone has a condition they were born with or it developed in them, you can heal it by saying 'Heal'. That also works for psychological illnesses. If someone is ill or sick with a disease they heal naturally from or that illness kills them, you can cure it by saying 'Cure Heal'. You can also put others to sleep for as long as you want with 'Tranquil' and to wake them up, you just say 'Wake'." Lianna explained.

"And I can do all that because you gave me your full blessing?" Shinji asked, finding all these abilities very convenient and useful.

"That's right. But there's even more what you can do so listen up. If someone has lost a limb or a body part, you can grow them a new one with 'Regrow' and you can remove foreign substances with 'Detoxify'. That works for drugs and other harmful narcotic chemicals and even hangovers. Then there is 'Clean' which disinfects wounds and you can use 'Clean' to keep your teeth clean as well. I recommend that you use it since dental care in this world is rather poor. Then there is 'Dispel' which lifts curses and 'Rest', which recovers stamina for those who are tired. And if someone is low on mana, you can accelerate their mana recovery by saying 'Mana Recovery' and your own mana recovers faster then most people since you have my full blessing. Then there is 'Resuscitate' which will completely heal and revive someone who is dead, but there is a time limit for it. If that person is dead for more then 1 minute, you can't revive that person anymore. And for beautification, there is 'Remove' which heals scars." Lianna continued.

"Well I'll be..." Shinji began.

"Are you excited about what you can do?" She asked with an amused smirk.

"Yes, I can't wait to try them out." He answered.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think that you have a case of chuunibyou." Lianna giggled.

"Well, I always fantasized going to a fantasy world and meeting all kinds of people and going on adventures so this is a dream come true." Shinji answered.

"Fufu. And maybe you also want to build yourself a harem as well." Lianna said.

"Is that possible in this world?" Shinji asked, perking up for the idea.

"Of course. Polygamy is quite normal in this world because 6 out of 10 people born in this world are women. Even the king has 3 wives and there are some nobles with a harem." Lianna answered.

Shinji was really excited now. A harem of warrior babes was not impossible anymore.

"By the way Lianna-sama, who is that person who can use 'Cure'? Shinji asked.

"You mean the person Ayl referred to when she told you to use 'Cure' on her? That person no longer lives. She died 7 years ago and now lives in another world as a normal child." Lianna answered.

"Oh. And thank you for leaving these clothes for me at the ruins." Shinji said, feeling a bit sad that he didn't get to meet the person who had indirectly saved Ayl's life.

"We didn't leave them there for you. Those clothes belonged to a person who lived there long ago, and since he has been dead for years he no longer needs those clothes. And if you're wondering why they were so well preserved, there was a preservative magic in that chest that keeps everything stored in the chest in the same condition as they were when they were put. Time won't damage them at all." Lianna said.

"There's magic like that?" Shinji asked.

"Yes. You can cast it as well. My grandmother, The Goddess of Magic, granted you Water and Darkness magic when you were reincarnated into this world. Ayl will teach you to use those and there are books in the Guild where you can learn more spells. She wanted to give you some other magic affinities, but decided against it since you already have higher powers. So she settled on the magics that would be most useful to you." Lianna said.

"Most useful, huh? In that case, give my thanks to your grandmother." Shinji said.

"I will. And I suggest that you tell people that you are from the country of Arcadia." Lianna said.

"What do you mean?" Shinji asked.

"Your backstory. You can't exactly go around telling everyone that you are from another world. There would raise many unwanted questions. Especially if you happen to mention things like technology and weapons you used. So I suggest that if you have to tell someone where you are from, tell them that you are from Arcadia. It's an island nation west of here. And as to where from Arcadia, you are from the northern part of the island, from the town of Lille, which was destroyed in a tsunami. Your family perished and you decided to leave Arcadia to build yourself a life somewhere else. That's my recommended backstory." Lianna explained.

"But what if I encounter someone who is from there?" Shinji asked.

"You don't have to worry about that. There are currently no people from Arcadia in this country and the survivors of the tsunami went to their relatives all over Arcadia. So the chances of you meeting a survivor here is virtually none." Lianna assured.

"Alright, that sounds good." Shinji said.

"Do you have any questions?" She asked.

"Why did you bring me to this world?" Shinji asked after some thought.

"As we said, to give you a new chance in life and to help the people of this world. As an added bonus, we Gods get some entertainment as well." Lianna answered.

"Entertainment?" Shinji asked with a look of disbelief.

"Since we Gods live forever, we always search for entertainment like those novels and mangas of your world, we choose our Champions and send them to other worlds to help those worlds and we also get to watch how they do with their new lives and we get to see some funny things happen occasionally." She explained with a hint of embarrassment.

"That sounds so wrong on so many levels." Shinji commented.

"It can't be helped Shinji. Even Gods get bored when we have an eternity to spend. So don't judge please." Lianna said, sounding a bit upset.

"I'm sorry. You must have your own problems as well." Shinji apologized, wondering what he would do if he had an eternity.

"Apology accepted. Any other questions?" Lianna asked, her mood returning to normal.

"Not right now. Thank you Lianna-sama." Shinji thanked.

"You're welcome Shinji. I'll drop by from time to time to see you and talk with you. And let me tell you something good. That girl Hana downstairs. She has a poor eyesight and hemophilia. So if you take care of those for her, you might score some points with her." Lianna said and disappeared in a flash of light.

' _Poor eyesight and a hemophilia. That explains the scars on her fingers_.' Shinji thought, now wanting to help her.

"Huaaahh. Oh Shinji, you're awake." Ayl said and stretched her body to wake up.

"Are we going to start training now?" Shinji asked.

"Yes. I'll just..." Ayl started but was interrupted.

"KYAAAAAHHHH!" They heard from downstairs.

"Hana!" Ayl said and grabbed her sword before running out of the door with Shinji behind her.

At the entrance hall, Ayl looked around and didn't see anyone, but then she another scream from the kitchen.

"WAAAHHHH!"

Ayl looked at the direction of the kitchen and ran there. "HANA!"

"No, I cut myself again." Hana whimpered, looking at the deep cut on her left finger.

"Shinji, help her." Ayl told him, who went to Hana.

"Calm down Hana, I'll help you." Shinji said and kneeled down next to her.

"Eh? What are you...?" She started, but stopped when Shinji grabbed her hand and said 'Recovery'.

Not even 2 seconds passed when the cut in her finger was healed and she looked at her finger in disbelief.

"You're a healer Shinji?" Hana asked.

"Yes. I was given the blessing of the Goddess of Healing." Shinji answered.

Hana gave him a pretty smile. "That's amazing Shinji. Would you also...?" She paused, looking away.

"What is it Hana?" Shinji asked.

"Forget it, I have bothered you and Ayl enough already. And I don't like asking favors." She answered.

"You want to know if he can heal your conditions." Ayl said.

"AYL! DON'T TELL HIM THAT!" Hana shouted in panic.

"Conditions? What's wrong with you Hana?" He asked with a concerned look on his face, though he already knew the answer. He thought about telling them that the Goddess herself already told him about Hana's conditions, but decided that it might be a bad idea.

"Hana has a poor eyesight and a bleeding disease. Meaning if she starts bleeding, she has to see a healer every time to close the wound or she will keep on bleeding." Ayl answered.

"AYL!" Hana shouted again.

"So how about it Shinji? Do you want to help her?" Ayl asked.

"She is your friend Ayl. And I want to be her friend as well. So yes, I want to help her." Shinji answered and turned to look at Hana, who had backed up against the wall.

"NO! STAY AWAY!" She screamed.

"What's the matter Hana? I want to help you." Shinji tried to assure her.

"NO! YOU WANT TO EXTORT ME AFTERWARDS!" Hana screamed.

"He won't Hana. Shinji isn't that kind of person." Ayl assured her.

"Really?" Hana asked, calming down.

"He won't. Shinji is a person who wants to help those in need because it's the right thing to do." Ayl said. "And besides, I'd never let anyone extort you."

Hana looked at Shinji with teary eyes, still feeling a bit uncomfortable about the whole thing, but she trusted Ayl.

"Very well, I'll trust you. Shinji, would heal my conditions?" She asked.

"Of course. But let me appraise your condition first. 'Appraise'." Shinji said and soon Hana's status screen came visible to him. 'Name: Hanahana Doma. Age: 18. Race: Human. Conditions: Glaucoma. Hemophilia. Required chant: Heal.' There were lights over her eyes and on her stomach.

"Alright, I know what I have to do now." Shinji said went over to her. Placing his hand over her eyes, he said 'Heal'.

Hana felt the power of his healing coursing in her eyes and when it was over, she opened her eyes.

Looking around, she saw everything clearly for the first time in years.

"Can you see clearly now Hana?" Ayl asked.

It took her some time to answer. "I can see clearly now! My vision isn't cloudy anymore!" She answered happily.

"Great. Now to your bleeding disease." Ayl said and Shinji placed a hand on her stomach, which made her flinch, but she calmed down soon after that.

"Heal." He said as he applied his power to her stomach and Hana felt a pleasant sensation when the healing power surged into her.

When he finished, Hana looked at the pair. "Did it... did it work?"

Suddenly Ayl grabbed her hand and made a small cut on her finger with a knife.

"OWW! AYL!" Hana shouted as blood started dripping from the cut.

"It's the only way to know if your disease is cured. Don't worry, Shinji will heal you again." Ayl said and wrapped a cloth on her finger. "Now we wait."

Hana sat on a chair and took a drink of water from a tankard that was on the table. Shinji just looked at Hana, confident that his power cured her. Ayl was looking over the stock of food they had, thinking what they would eat later.

A minute later, which felt like an hour to Hana, Ayl unwrapped the cloth from Hana's finger to look at the cut. They noticed that the bleeding had stopped.

"No way. It's not bleeding. I'm really cured?" Hana asked in disbelief.

"Looks like it. Shinji's healing power can truly heal anything." Ayl said with a smile.

"Recovery." Shinji said and healed the cut on her finger.

Hana looked at her finger, still in disbelief that she was finally free of the diseases that caused her nothing but trouble.

"Hana, do you want me to remove the scars on your fingers as well?" Shinji asked.

"You can do that?" Hana asked in disbelief.

"I can. So what do you say?" He asked.

"Please do." Hana replied.

"Remove." Shinji said and the healing removed the white streaks from her fingers.

Hana looked at her hands, still in disbelief that not only was she cured, her hands had no scars anymore. She started crying.

"Hana?" Shinji asked when he saw her tears flowing.

Suddenly Hana had her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "Thank you Shinji! I can finally live normally again thanks to you!" She said happily, her tears flowing. Ayl was smiling at the scene.

"You're welcome Hana. I'm glad I could help you." Shinji said, enjoying the hug and feeling good about helping her.

"How can I repay you?" She asked.

"I don't need payment for this. But I would like you to not tell anyone about this. And I would like to be your friend as well." He answered.

She looked at his face in disbelief. He did a huge favor for her and asks practically nothing for it.

"Of course Shinji. I would be glad to be your friend."

"Fufu. You're quite a charmer Shinji." Ayl said with an amused smirk.

"Maybe." Shinji replied.

"But as much as I hate to interrupt this moment, we have to start your training. You can talk with Hana later." Ayl said and walked towards the door.

"I'm sorry Hana, but let's talk later when I have finished my training." Shinji said.

She released him from the hug. "Of course Shinji. Be back soon."

He ran after Ayl with Hana watching.

 _'I might fall in love with him.'_ She thought after the door closed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

( _Training Montage_ )

Day One: Ayl starts training Shinji to use his Metal Powers by getting him to levitate several coins at once. She also teaches him how to make drinking water with Water Magic and how to clean up their clothes and bodies, making visits to the bath house unnecessary.

Day Two: Shinji is capable of levitating several coins with ease, and can even use them as throwing weapons. He also learns how to create ice projectiles and blades of water that can cut steel.

Day Three: Shinji has moved up to a bag of coins and can easily manipulate it like it was a balloon. She also teaches him how to use Darkness Magic to see in the dark.

Day Four: Ayl goes to the local blacksmith for some scrap metal. Shinji is able to levitate a thick steel rod with ease by the end of the day. Shinji also learns how to create a dimensional storage with Darkness Magic where he stores the scrap metal and other materials.

Day Five: Shinji is capable of levitating two metal rods, and Ayl has him bend the rods into different shapes. After lunch Ayl has Shinji levitate several pieces of metal in a figure eight pattern as fast as possible.

Day Six: Shinji is working with Ayl's blacksmith friend, learning how to levitate hot metal and dip it into the water to cool it. Shinji is also shown how to craft swords, daggers, knives and other metal trinkets as part of his training, but also because he wants to learn how to do it. He also assist the blacksmith in his work to earn money for living expenses.

Day Seven: Shinji and Ayl continue to work at the blacksmith shop, training him in how to control all types of metals, but also Water magics. This reminds Shinji of the water-benders from Avatar The Last Airbender.

Day Eight: Shinji spend the day at a healing practice, helping to cure various injured people, mostly in order to give Shinji experience in using his Healing Powers and to earn some money while Ayl was doing an herb-gathering quest to earn some money.

Day Nine: Shinji's work at the blacksmith shop has firmed up his muscles, and given him a bit of a tan, thanks to the raging heat of the forge. Ayl starts teaching Shinji how to use more powerful spells of Darkness Magic.

Day Ten: Ayl shows Shinji how to use Darkness Magics to create shadow-copies of himself that he can use to preform useful tasks like carrying things around and even sparring.

Day Eleven: Shinji learns to use small amounts of Water and Darkness magics simultaneously. A cup of water and his own shadow prove to be useful training tools.

Day Twelve: Shinji's shadow-copies are helping around the blacksmith shop while Shinji trains with his Water Magics and levitating tools and weapons around the shop. Ayl's blacksmith friend is able to take a break for the day.

Day Thirteen: Ayl shows Shinji how to teleport between shadows with Darkness Magic. He was able to do it rather effectively, until the blacksmith opened up one of the doors, casting light into the room and causing Shinji to run right into the wall. Ayl just had to laugh at that.

Day Fourteen: Shinji is able to switch between using his Metal powers, his Water Magic and his Darkness Magic with ease after hours of reflex training.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Silver Eagle Inn)

Shinji and Ayl were eating lunch, courtesy of Hana cooking, after hours of extra training since breakfast after waking up. Ayl had insisted on training a bit more just in case. And during the past 2 weeks of training, Shinji had also gotten to know Ayl and Hana better.

Ayl was originally from the forest of Elgin where High Elves live and trade with other races. Her father is a noble who trades armor for those who pay for them and her mother teaches archery to young elves. Her father is quite overprotective of his only daughter and had to be knocked out by his wife so Ayl could get out of the forest when she started her life as an adventurer.

She had also told him some of her adventures where she had saved some people and eliminated a few ghosts in an abandoned house which was later rebuilt as a forge. She hadn't mentioned any of her friends that she had lost in her adventures, Shinji thinking that it must have been too painful to talk about it. And her story with Hana is that Ayl helped her by paying her debt to the healer who previously took care of her injuries. Said healer was smitten by Hana while she wasn't and he tried to extort her for sexual favors. Ayl said that those who don't pay their bills are sentenced to hard labor at the mines and with Hana's constitution, she wouldn't have made it.

After that ordeal was settled, Hana took a strong liking to Ayl and always made sure that her usual room was always available for her. Hana had even paid her debt back to Ayl 2 years ago and she managed to save money for treatments if needed.

But now that Hana didn't have to worry about her conditions anymore, Ayl said that she had never seen Hana this happy before and sometimes she joined them for lunch, which made her fans jealous of Shinji and swearing bloody murder for getting too close to their Goddess.

Hana's story was that her father was an adventurer who died on a quest and her mother is a tailor at a clothing shop. Her vision started fading when she was 9 years old and she had to constantly adjust her habits to get by and be careful because of her hemophilia. And when she became of age, she had a tough time finding a suitable job, and because of her conditions none of the merchants wanted to hire her, so she had to turn to her aunt who owned the inn they were currently staying at. Hana also suggested that Shinji buys some more clothes, which he did with the money he had. Hana's mother was quite talented in making clothes and she was like an older version of Hana, with only B-cup breasts. Hana mentioned that her mother was irked by the fact that her daughter had bigger assets than she did.

Being a cook wasn't on her list of jobs she wanted to do, since she could hurt herself in the kitchen, but she had to do it in order to earn the money she needed. And now that Shinji had helped her, she wanted to get to know her benefactor. So she joined them for drinks in their room to talk and when Shinji told his story, the one Lianna suggested, she started to comfort him with a hug.

Shinji even taught them the game of rock-paper-scissors, which they played sometimes and everyone won pretty evenly, most of the time. Shinji was surprised that this world had scissors, Ayl saying that tailors used them all the time.

Ayl questioned Shinji about his backstory, with him having to answer that Lianna appeared before him when he arrived into this world and suggesting the backstory, which made Ayl surprised, since she had met her Goddess Libra only once when she received her blessing. But Ayl said afterwards that she should have thought of that.

Finishing their lunch, Ayl said: "Now then Shinji, I think that you are ready to join the Guild."

"So are we going to get me registered?" He asked, glad to hear that he could finally start doing something exciting other then training.

"Yes. And after we get you registered, we will take our first quest." She answered.

"The salt mine quest right?" Shinji asked.

"That's right. I heard that another adventurer just died trying to fight the golem, so the reward went up with to 40 gold. And salt is becoming even more scarce, so this has to be done right away. And the miners are also hurting for money since they haven't worked in a while." Ayl said.

"Then let's get to it." Shinji said, standing up.

Ayl did the same as Hana came over. "Are you going to take on the quest now?" she asked.

"Yes. It's about time we get that matter settled." Ayl answered.

"Be careful. And good luck." Hana said.

"I am always careful. That's why I lived so long." Ayl retorted.

"I know. But I can't help but worry for my friends." Hana said.

"Don't worry Hana, we will be fine." Shinji assured her.

"When you get back, I'll make some boar stew for you." She said.

Ayl's mouth started watering, so did Shinji's. Hana's boar stew was to die for, even without salt.

"We're off now. Come on Shinji." Ayl said and went towards the door with Shinji.

' _Please be alright Shinji_.' Hana thought as she watched them leave.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Authors Notes:

Not much action in this one, since it's mostly a training chapter, Shinji learning just how much power he has and what he can do. But he's also met a new friend and helped her so she is developing a crush on him. And this is eventually going to be a harem thing, so keep an eye out.

Next chapter: Shinji and Ayl take on a metal golem, so expect a lot of fighting.

Also, next chapter will have a couple more Omakes, to make up for the lack of one in this.

Please read and review.


	5. Registration and First Mission

_**SHINJIS NEW LIFE**_  
by Gunman & Reisfriend

Disclaimer: We own nothing.

Summary: Shinji goes on his first mission with Ayl.

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Chapter 5  
 **Registration and First Mission**

Shinji and Ayl entered the Adventurers Guild after a short walk from the inn. Ayl was in her usual male disguise and Shinji was wearing the clothes he found at the ruins. Several adventurers turned to look at the people who just entered and some of them were delighted to see Ayl, since she also had fans lusting after her. (And yes, they knew she was a she)

Walking over to the furthest counter, where the blue haired woman was sitting, Ayl spoke.

"Good morning, Krulcifer." she said.

"Ayl. It's been two weeks since I last saw you. What can I do for you this time?" Krulcifer asked.

"I would like to register this young man, Shinji Ikari, as my apprentice and party member." Ayl answered bluntly.

Krulcifer looked at Shinji, evaluating him. Shinji also looked at her, taking in how pretty she was up close, thinking that if she was a teacher back in his world, she would have been super popular.

"He is pretty cute, Ayl. Where did you find him?" Krulcifer asked.

The people who heard Krulcifer praise Shinji's good looks got jealous of him.

"I'll tell you over drinks when we get back from the mission we are about to take. But first I need to get him registered." Ayl replied.

"Of course. Follow me." The blunette said and lead them to a room next to the counter. Inside the room there were only two chairs, a table and a window. "Wait here for a moment, I'll get the papers needed."

When the door closed, Shinji turned to Ayl.

"Papers? I have to fill out papers?" he asked, upset at the fact he had to write stuff down. He figured there was some kind of magic ritual he had to preform, or swear an oath, something of that kind. Maybe even a blood-oath.

"Unfortunately yes. I don't like paperwork either." Ayl retorted.

"Even this world has paperwork." Shinji groaned.

Ayl was about ask something, but Krulcifer opened the door, holding a stack of papers that she set down on the table and pulled out two fountain pens from her pocket. Then she divided the papers into their own stacks and started explaining.

"Alright then Shinji, listen up. These papers here are Registry Forms for New Guild Members." Krulcifer said, indicating the first stack of papers. She then placed her hand on the second stack. "This stack are the Apprentice Forms, which the mentor and apprentice fill out together. And this stack is your Backstory Forms, where you fill out your personal information. Name, family members (if any), homeland, schooling, special skills and abilities, etc. All of these are done in triplicate, since one set will stay here, the others will go to the Army and the Royal Family, since sometimes the Army or the Family request services from adventurers with specific skills and abilities. It helps everyone to know what they are capable of." Krulcifer explained.

"Alright. Anything else I need to know?" Shinji asked.

"Once you have filled out these forms, bring them to me and we will issue you your Adventurer Tags. I will explain them when you are done." She answered and left the room.

"Well, Shinji, we'd better get started if we want to finish this and get moving to the mine today." Ayl said and started to fill out the Apprentice Forms.

"Is this why you wanted us to get started early?" Shinji asked as he took the second pen and started writing.

"Precisely." Ayl grunted with frustration.

Shinji started with the Registry Forms, thinking that bureaucrats were a blight in every world that existed.

Over an hour later, Shinji and Ayl had all the papers filled out, much to Ayl's relief. Shinji wasn't too bothered by the task they just did.

"Finally! Now let's give these to Krulcifer." Ayl said, eager and in a hurry to get out of the room.

"Right." Shinji replied, reminded of Misato by how Ayl wasn't a fan of paperwork.

Opening the door and seeing Krulcifer handing out a paper to the aqua haired young woman Shinji had seen two week ago.

"Ayl, did you finish the paperwork?" She asked.

"Yes, all done." Ayl replied, handing the papers to her.

Krulcifer looked over the papers for a couple of minutes before turning to the pair.

"Alright, everything seems to be in order." she said as she filed the papers in three separate folders. "Follow me please." she said to them.

Ayl and Shinji followed her to another room at the back and inside there were shelves filled with items that looked like dog tags sitting in small different colored boxes to Shinji.

Closing the door, Krulcifer took one of the tags and handed it to Shinji. He noticed that there were two tags hanging on a chain.

"These will be your Adventurer Tags, which will prove your identity when needed. You only need to drop a few drops of your blood on them. Ayl, show him yours." Krulcifer said.

Ayl pulled out her tags that were hanging around her neck.

"Open." she said.

A blue status screen appeared before them, showing Ayl's name, age, race, adventurer rank, (which was 'A'), and title, which read 'Swordmage'.

"Wow." Shinji said.

"Now then Shinji, your adventurer rank will be F, since you are a newcomer and your title will be 'apprentice adventurer'. As you complete quests, your rank will go up and depending on your performance, you will receive a new title fitting your rank." Krulcifer explained.

"Got it. Thank you Krulcifer." Shinji said.

"A couple of more things you need to know. If you lose your tags, it will cost 5 silvers to get a new one and after that, it's 10. And if you lose those, then you will be expelled from the Guild. And also, if you are idle for too long, meaning you don't take quests for a long period of time without approval, you will be expelled. And if you fail too many quests in a row, you will also be expelled." She explained.

 _'That seems a bit strict'_. He thought, but nodded. "Good to know. Anything else I need to know?" he replied.

"You can only accept quests of your rank or below when you're on your own, but if Ayl accepts a quest that is above your rank, you can join her since you are in her party. That's all for now." She replied.

"Understood." Shinji replied as Ayl handed him the knife. Shinji wasn't very keen to cut his finger, but he had to do this to become an adventurer. Gritting his teeth, he made cut on his finger and dropped some of his blood on the tags.

A magical light surrounded the metal tags and soon died down.

"Registration complete. You are now an adventurer, Shinji. Open your status now." Krulcifer said as Ayl wrapped a cloth around his finger.

Shinji got the hint as he picked up his tags.

"Open." he said.

A green screen appeared above the tag and showed his name, age, race, adventurer rank and title of 'Apprentice Adventurer'.

"No problems with registration. You are now allowed to accept quests, Shinji. Welcome to the Adventurers Guild." Krulcifer congratulated.

"Thank you, Krulcifer." He thanked her as he put on his tags and healed his finger.

"Now then Shinji. Let's begin our quest." Ayl said.

"What quest are you going to take?" Krulcifer asked.

"The salt mine quest." Ayl answered.

Krulcifer paused as her eyes went wide.

"I wouldn't recommend that Ayl. You are one of the most experienced and powerful adventurers we have and even you can't handle a mithril golem and a flock of goblins alone." Krulcifer said. "We've already lost two adventurers and they were B-ranks."

"But they didn't have Shinji. He has abilities that will make this mission easy." Ayl said, going over to the board to pick up the sheet.

"What is she talking about?" Krulcifer asked Shinji.

"It's a secret." He replied, which made her frown. Krulcifer was very curious and didn't like it when someone denied her answers.

Ayl slapped the salt mine mission sheet on the counter. "We will take care of this."

The blunette stared at the sheet for a moment before she accepted it. She would keep it with her until Ayl returned. However, if she failed, the sheet would go back up on the board.

"Well then, I wish you luck." Krulcifer said, handing her the Quest Completion Form.

"Come on then Shinji." Ayl said and went towards the door but Shinji held back for a second.

"Uh, Miss Krulcifer?" he asked.

"Yes?" she asked.

"You mentioned a flock of goblins. How many is that?" he asked.

"We're not for certain. The first adventurers partner made it back and reported that he saw several goblins there. He estimated approximately 40, at most." she explained.

"Thank you." Shinji said before following Ayl out.

The other adventurers looked at the pair, hoping that their idol Ayl came back and Shinji didn't. The aqua-haired girl with a trident spear looked at Shinji with an intense stare.

Exiting the guild headquarters, Shinji turned to ask the she-elf something.

"Ayl, where is the salt mine?" he asked.

"The mine is 23 miles southwest of here. The mining town of Sendorio is less than a mile from it, so we will take a horse to the town and walk from there." She answered.

"I can't ride a horse." He protested.

"I can and you will sit behind me. Don't worry, you will be fine." She countered.

"Krulcifer mentioned that one of the other adventurers saw about 40 goblins there. I thought that there was only a golem there." Shinji said, changing the subject.

"Yes. Everyone was puzzled at first because golems are usually just magic-controlled puppets and they have no interest in mines. But the goblin flock explained a lot. There must be a goblin shaman controlling it." Ayl answered.

"They can do something like that?" Shinji asked.

"A regular goblin can't, but a goblin shaman can. A shaman is smarter than a regular goblin and can use magic. Most likely they used the golem to drive out the miners so they could move in to their new lair close to the town where they could find women as their breeding tools." Ayl answered, disgusted by the whole thing.

Shinji grimaced. The idea that one of those disgusting creatures raping some poor girl made him want to throw up.

"Then we better take care of it before that happens." Shinji stated as they reached the gate that lead outside the city.

"That's the spirit Shinji. Come on, we can rent a horse from there." Ayl said, heading to the stables.

Walking to the large barn where several horses were kept, the owner came up to Ayl.

"Ah Miss Ayl, I assume you're here to rent Tornac once again?" The lanky owner asked.

"Yes Brom, if he is available." Ayl replied.

The way how Brom was leering at Ayl didn't go unnoticed by Shinji. Brom was clearly having lewd thoughts about his mentor.

"For you miss Ayl, he is always available." Brom said as Ayl handed him 4 silvers.

"Right this way." Brom urged, leading them further into the stable. The man clearly didn't like Shinji, judging from the way he was glaring at him.

Coming over to the stall where a large black horse with a silvery mane was kept, the horse looked at Ayl and came over to her.

"Hey Tornac, ready for another trip?" Ayl asked the horse, who bobbed his head up and down.

"You have ridden him before?" Shinji asked.

"Of course. I have ridden him 17 times already and we get along well. Don't we Tornac?" Ayl asked the horse and responded with another head bob.

"Heh, he sure is smart. Like he can understand everything you say." Shinji commented.

"That he is." Ayl retorted as Brom brought the saddle big enough for two. Shinji looked at the horse again and noted that Tornac was bigger then the horses of his world. Three people could easily sit on Tornac's back.

Ayl took the saddle and deftly saddled the horse and jumped on him. She extended her hand to Shinji and helped him up on the saddle. He almost fell off, but managed to balance himself.

"Now hold on to me Shinji." She ordered and he wrapped his arms around her waist. Brom was jealously looking at the scene.

Ayl tapped on to Tornac's sides with her boots and the horse started to slowly walk outside of the barn.

"Good luck on your quest miss Ayl." Brom said and Ayl replied with a simple 'thank you'.

Once outside, Ayl made a turn to the left and started to canter down the road. Shinji was a bit nervous about the whole thing, because in his previous world, he had only seen videos and pictures of horses. And now he was sitting on one, holding on to an elf magically disguised as a man.

"Don't be nervous Shinji. Tornac is well behaved and won't buck you off when I'm holding the reins." Ayl assured him, somehow sensing his nervousness.

"If you say so." He replied.

Reaching the crossroad, Ayl turned right and tapping the horses sides twice, Tornac began galloping. Shinji tightened his hold on Ayl, wondering how fast they were going.

A little over an hour later, Ayl stopped the horse. "Break time Shinji."

He released Ayl and climbed down. His ass was sore from the trip. "Oww, that hurt like hell. Recovery." He said, using his healing to make the soreness disappear. "Ahh, much better."

WHACK!

"OWW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" Shinji asked when she whacked him on the head once again with her sword.

"You need to get used to riding a horse. Making the soreness go away is never going to get you used to it." She replied.

"Well, yes, but I don't need to get used to it right this second." He countered.

"Hmm, true. Sorry about hitting you for no reason." She answered, not sounding apologetic.

Shinji smirked. Ayl was in her serious mode once again, where she doesn't apologize for anything, because she was usually right.

"How far away is Sendorio?" Shinji asked, dropping the matter for now.

"We are halfway there. We are stopping here because Tornac needs a break and some water. There is a pond over there where I usually take Tornac to drink, but this time Shinji you're going to give him water with your magic." Ayl explained.

"Why?" Shinji asked.

"Because you can earn Tornac's loyalty with it. And you need to get used to horses and know how to handle them." She answered.

He thought how he would make water appear for Tornac to drink, then decided to do the fountain mandala.

Ayl held on to the horse to make sure it didn't get scared as Shinji made a blue mandala appear in front of Tornac and water started pouring upwards from it, splashing down to the grass. Tornac started to drink the water quite eagerly.

Almost 10 minutes passed before Ayl spoke up.

"That's enough Shinji."

He stopped his magic, couple of drops of sweat on his forehead from the intense focus he had to put in the spell. Maintaining a spell for several minutes was harder then quick attack magic that Ayl had taught him.

"And now some food Shinji. Take some apples from the saddlebags." She instructed.

He did as instructed and took three apples. He held out one for the horse, who snatched it from his hand rather quickly. The same thing happened with the other two apples.

"See Shinji, he's not scary." Ayl said.

"Maybe so, but riding a big animal like this still makes me nervous." He replied. Just then, the horse brought its head close to Shinji and neighed before pushing his muzzle against Shinji's chest.

"See, he already likes you Shinji. Go on, stroke his mane." Ayl urged and after some hesitation, he did so, which made the horse neigh again.

"Not so scary is it Shinji?" Ayl asked, liking the scene because it reminded her of her first meeting with Tornac.

"Not so much, once you get used to him." Shinji replied.

Ayl took another apple and the lunchbox Hana had prepared them and gave another apple to Tornac. Then they ate the sandwiches, which had butter, cheese and tomatoes. Shinji thought that this worlds butter, cheese and tomatoes were tastier then the ones in his world. Probably because the products were handmade and not manufactured.

After finishing their small meal, they continued their journey towards Sendorio, only this time Shinji wasn't as nervous.

Another hour passed and the town came into view as they exited the forest. Shinji looked at the town and it seemed like a regular village in a fantasy manga. Wooden buildings and houses scattered here and there and close to each other and some farmland and some lifestock on a few farms.

Ayl noted that not many people were out, despite being a little past noon. She thought that the people were staying inside because of the golem and goblins at the towns primary source of income.

Slowing down to walking speed, Ayl directed Tornac towards the stable. Having been there before, she looked around to see if there was anything else out of the ordinary.

"Everyone is hiding. They must be scared of the monsters at the mine." Shinji stated as he saw a couple of people looking at them through their windows.

"They are. These people are not soldiers or adventurers. They are just workers trying to get by." Ayl retorted.

Arriving at the stable, they climbed down from the saddle and Ayl went to find the owner. The owner was giving out food for the horses when she entered.

"Excuse me." Ayl called out as the owner turned to look at her. "Any open stalls for my horse?"

"There is, but you would do well to get out this town before the goblins come." The owner said.

"I know about the goblins and I am here to take care of them." Ayl countered.

"You're an adventurer?" He asked.

"I am." She nodded.

"Well, I am glad that somebody is willing to do something, but I doubt you will succeed on your own." The owner said as he came close to Ayl. "The last adventurer didn't fare so well."

"I'm not alone. I have a partner who can take care of the golem and goblins are not a threat to me." Ayl assured.

The owner gave it some thought. "3 silvers for 2 nights."

She handed him the money and they stepped out. Shinji handed the horse to the owner and followed Ayl. The owner thought that the young man didn't seem like anything special.

"Are we going to the mine straight away?" Shinji asked after the stable wasn't visible.

"Of course. The goblins could attack while we are sleeping and they are sneaky bastards when they are searching for women, especially now that there is a shaman leading them." She answered.

"We better hurry then. We don't have much time left before the sun sets." Shinji said, remembering Ayl teaching him that when going to a goblin nest, it was safer to do it during the day, since goblins didn't come out into the sunlight and if one is about to be overwhelmed by them, running out into the daylight was a sure way to escape them.

"If there really is no more then 40 goblins, your powers will do a quick work on them, just like they will against the golem." She countered.

They took a turn at the center of town towards the path that lead to the mine, which was over the ridge.

After almost 20 minutes of walking, the mine came into view. There were six buildings and a storage/stable for wagons and horses. Shinji figured that the buildings were for the processing of the raw salt and the business management of the mine. And a mess hall for workers.

Near the entrance of the mine the pair saw a 6-meters tall mithril golem was keeping watch. The golem itself didn't look very impressive. Shinji was expecting a humanoid figure with a smooth, polished surface that looked like one of those Emmy Award statues. Something that actually looked presentable and attractive. But no. This golem looked 'ugly'. Its body was jagged and uneven. It's left arm looked bigger than the right arm, and had a spike where its hand should have been. It's right foot looked larger than it's left foot. And the thing looked like it was raw and dirty, like it bunch of rocks that were thrown together. Its head was round with a pair of glowing red eyes. No mouth or nose.

"That's the golem? When you said it was made of mithril I was expecting something... impressive. Shiny. It looks like a Frankenstein monster." he said.

"A what?" she asked.

"A monster that was put together from pieces of human remains."

"Oh, we have those." she said simply.

"You do?" he asked, slightly shocked.

"Yes. They're called Flesh Golems. But only Necromancers can bring them to life." she explained.

"I see." Shinji said, trying to shake the image of them from his mind. "Still, that thing is kinda ugly."

"I know. Goblins aren't known for their style. A dwarf would have given it a more aesthetic look." she exclaimed. ' _If they made that thing at all._ '

"So... where are the goblins that are suppose to control it? Inside the mine?" Shinji asked.

"Most likely." she said looking up at the clear sky. "They don't like the sun."

The pair made their way down to the mine.

"So... what's the plan?" Shinji asked.

"Your powers are more effective the closer the metal is, so we'll let it get close and then you use your powers to destroy it." Ayl said.

Shinji looked at his mentor like she was leaving out a crucial detail or something. Sighing, Shinji walked over to the large metal creature, its eyes glowing as it noticed him approaching.

Shinji stopped walking as Ayl stood to the side, her hand on her sword. Shinji looked up at the golem as it advanced towards him.

"Shinji." Ayl said to him.

The golem advanced upon Shinji, it's spike-arm raised up.

"Shinji!" Ayl shouted now, wondering why her apprentice wasn't moving.

The golem was now towering over Shinji, its arm lifted up high and poised to strike down at Shinji.

"SHINJI!" Ayl shouted, clearly worried.

The young champion of Galac threw out his hands, as an invisible force suddenly knocked the golem back against the rock wall next to the mine entrance.

Ayl looked at Shinji in both shock and irritation.

"I thought you weren't going to do anything." She huffed at him as she approached him.

"Sorry. I wanted maximum effect, so I had to let it get close." he explained.

"Risky, Shinji. Very risky." she chided him.

The golem got back up and advanced on them. The golem was quicker than it looked, but still slower than both Ayl and Shinji. It raised it's large metal arm up and thrust it into the ground, as both Ayl and Shinji dodged it with ease. The impact caused a small shockwave that stunned Shinji and Ayl. It then advanced upon them both.

Shinji threw out his hands and froze the golem in place.

"I've got it!" He said.

The golem struggled against Shinji's metal powers, the young adventurer quickly tossing the golem to the side and then trying to hold it down to the ground. But the golem wasn't giving up.

Not that it had a will of it's own to do so.

Ayl then noticed that there was a goblin peeking out at the mine entrance before it ducked back into the mine.

' _They know we're here_.' Ayl thought, realizing that the element of surprise was long lost. The golem was not simply a guard, but a warning device. "Shinji! We need to end this now!"

Inside the mine, the goblin guard was running back to the rest of his pack.

("Boss! Boss!") The goblin guard shouted as he stopped right where the Goblin Shaman was sitting around a fire surrounded by the other goblins. The group looked like they were eating lunch.

("What is it?") The shaman asked. The shaman was dressed in a red tunic with a black belt and several small skulls on a necklace wrapped around his neck.

("Intruders at the entrance!") The guard said.

("The golem will take care of them.") He said dismissively.

("The golem is losing!") The guard said, causing the other goblins to look up in shock.

("What?!") The shaman gasped. ("How?")

("One of the adventurers. He's got some kind of magic power. He's knocking the golem all over the quarry!")

("One of the adventurers? How many are there?")

("I only saw two.")

("I'd better go and see.") The shaman said as he stood up and grabbed his scepter.

The rest of the goblins grabbed their weapons and followed their boss out.

When the shaman got to the entrance he gasped when he saw his mithril golem shaking and cracking, like some invisible force was trying to tear it apart. Before the shaman could do anything, the golem was ripped in half, a strange glowing purple crystal hovering in mid-air for a couple seconds before it dropped to the ground. He gasped when he saw the golem broke into pieces.

("GET THEM!") The shaman shouted.

("We can't!") One of the goblins said.

("What?") He gasped.

("Too sunny!") A second goblin said, pointing to the sunlight that was starting to peer into the mine.

("ARGH!") The shaman growled as he slammed his staff down on the ground, casting a spell that created a large group of dark clouds outside the Mine entrance. ("There! Now kill them!")

The goblins shrieked as they came charging out of the mine towards the two adventurers.

"They're coming Shinji!" Ayl said to Shinji.

Shinji turned to look and saw the goblins charging at them. It looked to be about forty, give or take.

"Okay." Shinji grunted as he focused his powers and hurled the remains of the mithril golem at the goblins.

The hard and jagged pieces that were once the golem slammed into the on-coming goblins, killing and smashing them hard.

Ayl just watched as Shinji quickly decimated the large force of goblins, leaving less than ten for her to finish off.

Taking out two daggers, Ayl hurled them at the goblins, striking two in the chest. She pulled her sword out and swiftly threw herself into the fray, cutting down the remaining forces with ease. Shinji watched as Ayl eliminated the rest of the goblins, moving with such grace and ease, like she was dancing.

Once she was done, and the goblins were all dead, Shinji then noticed that the goblin shaman was angrily approaching them.

"Ayl!" Shinji shouted, pointing to the goblin shaman.

Ayl looked back as the shaman started throwing fireballs at them. She quickly dodged the fireballs as Shinji looked around and not sensing any water nearby, had another idea. Summoning the daggers that Ayl had thrown away before, he hurled them at the shaman, who jumped back when he saw the blades fly passed him, and then spin around and fly back to him. The shaman growled as he deflected one of the blades with his staff, only to get cut by the other one.

"ARGH!" he shouted only to look up and see Ayl was almost right in front of him.

Ayl shot forward while he was distracted, and sliced his staff in half.

"NO!" the shaman shouted.

Ayl skidded to a halt, turning around to face the goblin shaman.

"My staff! My powers! You'll pay for that!" the shaman shouted in Basic.

"Oh, really?" Ayl asked as she pointed above his head.

He gasped when he looked up and saw a large piece of mithril hovering over him. He then noticed that the elfs companion was holding out his hands towards the large piece of metal over him.

"Your choice." Ayl said. "Surrender, or my friend crushes you."

"Grrr. What are your terms?" he asked.

"Taking this mine back from you goblins was our job. The mithril and your dead companions are a bonus. You would be a gift. I'm sure the garrison back at Ithalan would love to know about that staff and that golem."

"Interrogate me? Like a common criminal?" he snarled, knowing what questions like that would mean. "No! No! They'll kill me anyway after they torture me!" he said as he pulled a dagger from behind his back. "Death First!" he snarled.

Ayl looked at Shinji before she gave him a curt nod.

Shinji dropped his arms, causing the mithril stone to drop down hard on the goblins head, killing him instantly before his body fell to the ground.

"Well, that was easier than I expected." Ayl said.

He went over to Ayl who kept looking at the mine entrance as the shaman's clouds dissipated. He drew the daggers Ayl had thrown back to himself and were now floating next to him. "Are there any more of them?"

"Keep watch. I'll use the spell." She answered and started to use the detection spell she had used back at the Hearth Inn.

Half a minute later, she answered: "I'm not sensing anything. That must have been all of them."

"Should we check the mine?" He asked.

"I'll check it. You stay here and collect their ears and weapons and pile the bodies. Store the golem's remains and the mana crystal in the dimensional storage that I showed you how to use, as well as the weapons and ears." She said, handing him the bag.

"Is it wise to go in there alone?" Shinji asked, wondering if he wasn't getting the harder job.

"If I am alone, then I will be ready for anything. Just give me the spell that allows me to see in the dark." She answered.

He was a bit hesitant to let her go in there alone, but was sure that she would be fine since she had done this before.

He cast the Darkness spell on Ayl and her eyes became shiny.

"Don't worry Shinji, I'll be fine." she said to him.

She went to the mine and Shinji started his task. He focused on the goblin weapons and golems remains and they started levitating all around him. He opened the storage, which appeared as a violet mandala in front of him. He mde all the things he was focusing on fly in the mandala.

' _Okay, that takes care of that_.' He thought as he went to his first goblin and started cutting it's ear off. ' _Shit this is disgusting_.' He thought, swallowing his vomit.

An hour later, Ayl came out of the mine as Shinji was dragging the last goblin corpse to the pile of other corpses.

"Why didn't you use your powers to move the bodies?" Ayl asked when she cam next to Shinji.

"Not all of them had metal." He answered, tossing the corpse on the pile.

"Turn this magic off now please." She asked, pointing to her eyes, which were extremely sensitive in the sunlight.

He did as she asked and Ayls vision turned back to normal.

"Anything in there?" He asked.

"Nothing. Just their camp and some food. Good thing we stopped them before any more of them showed up. It would have been more difficult if there were more then forty." She commented.

"There were 43 of them including the shaman." Shinji said.

"Their ears?" She asked and he handed her the bag. "Good. And the other things?"

"In storage." He answered simply.

Ayl said nothing and created a red mandala beneath the goblin pile which rose up and disintegrated the bodies.

"And with this, our mission is complete. Let's go find an inn and head back to Ithalan tomorrow." Ayl said and started walking towards Sendorio.

"And some food as well. I'm starving." Shinji said, his stomach protesting in a manner that made Ayl snicker.

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Authors Notes:

Here's chapter five, with quite a lot of editing. Apparently Reisfriend and I had a few differences about this, but we managed a compromise with this joint-written story. But he's got the lead on this, so I'm mostly doing beta-reading.

Hopefully everyone enjoyed this latest update.

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OMAKES!

"GET THEM!" The shaman shouted.

"We can't!" One of the goblins said.

"What?" He gasped.

"Too sunny!" A second goblin said, pointing to the sunlight that was starting to peer into the mine.

"ARGH!"

The shaman slammed his staff down on the ground, casting a spell that created a large group of dark clouds outside the Mine entrance.

"There! Now kill them!"

The goblins shrieked as they came charging out of the mine towards the two adventurers.

"They're coming Shinji!" Ayl said to Shinji.

Shinji turned to look and saw the goblins charging at them.

"Okay." Shinji grunted as he focused his Darkness Magic and summoned up hundreds of shadow-clones of himself. The goblins paused when they saw how outnumbered they were.

"WHAT?!" the shaman gasped as the shadow-clones quickly attacked and overwhelmed the goblins.

"Ha! Beat that Naruto!" Shinji said with a smirk. "My shadow-clones ARE shadows!"

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OMAKE 2

"Should we check the mine?" He asked.

"I'll check it. You stay here and collect their ears and weapons and pile the bodies. Store the golem's remains and the mana crystal in the dimensional storage, as well as the weapons and ears." She said, handing him the bag.

"Is it wise to go in there alone?" Shinji asked.

"If I am alone, then I will be ready for anything. Just give me the spell that allows me to see in the dark." She answered.

He was a bit hesitant to let her go in there alone, but was sure that she would be fine since she had done this before.

He cast the Darkness spell on Ayl and her eyes became shiny.

"Don't worry Shinji, I'll be fine." she said as she entered the mine.

While Shinji set about his task, he realized the hilarity of his situation.

 _'I'm putting things away in a dimensional storage portal like Harry Potter and his friends, and Ayl is walking through a darkened mine like she's Richard B. Riddick. All we need now is a Terminator and a bunch of creatures from Lord of the Rings and...'_ he paused when he looked at the mithril golem and the dead goblins. ' _Never mind!'_ He mentally laughed.

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OMAKE 3

The pair made their way down to the mine. Yet, Ayl felt an aura of unease around Shinji.

"What's wrong, Shinji?"

"I don't know. Something about this... I don't like it."

"What? Worried we're not going to get paid for this?"

"Being paid is not what I'm worried about." he said.

"You're just being paranoid." she scoffed.

"A bunch of goblins take over a mine, with a golem made of the strongest metal in this world. Why did they do this? This place doesn't have any strategic value, and salt isn't that important."

"It is to the people at Inns and food shops."

"Well... I just mean... why would they take over this mine? I mean, is there a treasure inside no one knows about? Is there a tunnel that leads into Ithalan? I mean they must have wanted it for some important reason." he said.

Ayl just looked at him.

"They're goblins, Shinji. They are bloodthirsty and malicious but they are E-ranked monsters that need leadership because most of them are kind of stupid. Shamans are smarter than regular goblins, but the Goblin King is smarter than that. Which isn't really saying much. You give them far too much credit in the strategic-thinking department."

"Right. Sorry." he apologized and continued towards the golem.


	6. Confession

_**SHINJIS NEW LIFE  
**_ by Gunman & Reisfriend

Disclaimer: I do not own Eva or it's characters.

Summary: Shinji and Ayl return to Ithalan, where Shinji hears an unexpected confession.

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Chapter 6  
 **Confession**

Alex Rompso, a man from an influential family was not feeling well as he sat on his porch, smoking his ebony pipe.

When his father had placed him in charge of his salt mine, which was quite lucrative because it was the only salt mine in the region and everyone bought salt from him, he never imagined that a pack of goblins with a golem would show up and take it over.

'Should have hired those guards to make sure this didn't happen.' He thought glumly, because he wanted to save money in security. But then again, those guards wouldn't have fared well against a golem made from mithril.

Right now his only hope was that some powerful warrior appeared and took care of it, but two adventurers had already died, which made other adventurers wary of the place, even when he increased the reward to 40 gold coins.

"Mr. Rompso?" He heard someone speaking to him.

He turned to look and saw an elven male and a young human man approach his house.

"I am. If you are looking for salt, we are out of stock at the moment." He said dismissively, looking away from the pair.

"Actually, we came to inform you that we killed the golem and the goblins at the mine." Ayl said.

He turned to look at them again. "Are you kidding me?"

"No. We are adventurers from Ithalan and we took care of your request." Ayl said, pulling out her adventurers tag, Shinji did the same.

They showed their status screen to the man and after closing them, Ayl showed him the bag of goblin ears. His face turned into amazement.

"The golem and the goblins are really dead now?" Rompso asked.

"That's right. You may resume mining right away." Ayl stated.

He rose up from his seat. "Come on in, please."

They followed the well dressed man inside the small manor. The interior was quite well decorated with fine furniture, an expensive looking crystal chandelier, and a well kept fireplace.

"Johan." Alex shouted to his butler.

"Yes, sir?" the middle-aged man replied.

"Head, out to the mine to confirm that the monsters are dead." Alex ordered.

"At once." The butler said as he headed out.

"You don't believe me?" Ayl asked Rompso.

"No one would casually report that the mine was clear unless it was true. And freshly cut goblin ears are excellent proof. But my father always asked for a second opinion. It was good policy." He explained.

Ayl looked back to Shinji, who couldn't argue that point.

"While we're waiting, please, join me." Alex said as he poured two glasses of wine for his guests. The trio stepped out to the porch after taking the offered glasses. While there, Ayl and Shinji told Alex about what happened at the mine.

A few minutes later the butler returned, a quiet nodding from him told Rompso all he needed to know.

"Do you have the quest confirmation form?" Alex asked as Ayl handed it to him. "Wait here, I will fill it out." He said and went inside.

Shinji's stomach growled. "Let's get this over with. I'm starving." He grumbled slightly.

"Hopefully he will treat us to a dinner with some expensive wine now that we took care of his problem." Ayl retorted.

"That would be nice." Shinji said.

A minute later, Rompso came downstairs with the form. "I must say that I am quite surprised that the two of you managed to clear out the monsters from my mine. You must be quite capable warriors, so would you be interested in working for me? I will pay you a good salary."

Ayl answered almost immediately. "No, thank you. I like traveling and I don't want to be tied to one place."

"I also want to see the world, so, no thank you." Shinji answered.

"Too bad. But if I ever need your services, I'll know who to request from the guild." Rompso said and handed the paper to Ayl, who took it and placed it in her cloak pocket.

Without saying anything else, Ayl and Shinji left the house.

"Now then, let's go to that inn." she said.

He followed her and entered the building that looked like a saloon from a Wild West movie. Nobody was downstairs, except for the bartender.

"Excuse me. How much for a room for two?" Ayl asked the bearded tall man.

"We only have single bed rooms. 50 coppers for one night." He answered.

"Then we shall take two rooms for one night. What kind of food do you have?" Ayl asked.

"Just bread and roasted chicken. One silver." The barkeep answered.

"Then we shall take those." She said, handing him the money.

"Just a minute." He said and went to the kitchen.

"No mead this time?" Shinji asked.

"No. Let's drink when we get back to Ithalan." She replied.

The barkeep came out with a tray of food that Ayl took and handed the keys to Shinji. They both said thank you and went upstairs to Ayl's room to eat.

They both ate while sitting on the floor because there was only a bed in the room. The bread was a bit hard and dry and the chicken was just warm, but it did make the hunger go away.

"You did well Shinji. Just don't let those monsters get near you the next time." Ayl said.

"Maximum effect remember." Shinji said.

"Yes, but since your power is so strong, the range shouldn't be a problem. And since you are not a physical fighter like me, it would be best to keep your distance from monsters." Ayl said.

"I will keep that in mind, master." Shinji said.

"And I told you not to call me master." She smirked at him.

"I am your apprentice." He retorted.

"And I am your friend and mentor and I want you to call me by my name." She scolded.

"Yes, but that frowning face is so cute." Shinji replied with a smirk.

Ayl snorted in amusement. "You sure have a way to make me laugh, Shinji. But would you mind telling me something about your world now? I am very curious to hear about it."

"I don't even know where to start. There is so much I could tell you." He answered.

"Well, let's start with foods." She said. Shinji had noticed during their time together that Ayl really loved eating, considering that she was a big eater.

For the next few hours, Shinji explained to Ayl about the foods they had in his world. Hamburgers, ice cream, french fries, pasta, meatballs, udon, rice, kebab, steaks and various fish-dishes. The whole time Shinji talked about the foods and what they were and how they were made and spiced, Ayl's mouth was watering the whole time and her stomach started protesting loudly.

"STOP SHINJI! Any more talk about such exotic foods and I will starve to death." She whined, swallowing the drool that gathered in her mouth.

Shinji started laughing so hard that his sides hurt. His mentors cute side (gap moe) was so hilarious that he couldn't stop himself.

When he stopped laughing, Ayl said: "Don't tell anyone about this Shinji."

"Don't worry, I won't. But I think I'll go to sleep now." He said and exited the room and went to the room opposite of Ayl's, which had only the bed and nothing else.

The beds were simple design with hay as a mattress and a fur blanket over the hay.

' _Could be worse_.' He thought as he looked at the bed.

Laying down, he thought how the others were doing back in his world and how Hana would react when they returned. He was hoping to get another hug from her, because a beauty like her hugging him felt amazing.

' _In my old world, a beauty like her wouldn't even look at me._ ' He thought, glad that the standards of this world were different. He started kicking his legs, anxious to see Hana again. ' _Thank you Lianna-sama!_ ' He mentally thanked Lianna for this new chance in life.

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From the Gods Realm, Lianna just giggled and said: "Fufu, you're welcome Shinji."

She was watching him with a mirror the Gods used to look at their champions. Their TV so to speak.

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Morning came to Sendorio and Shinji woke up to the sunlight coming in from the window.

' _Another day in a fantasy world_.' He thought, finding these free hours quite relaxing, since time limits and schedules were uncommon in this world. There was no set times when adventurers had to get to work, unlike the shopkeepers and innkeepers.

But Ayl was a disciplined woman who liked to keep busy, since she didn't want to get lazy.

KNOCK KNOCK "Shinji, are you awake?" Ayl asked through the door.

"Yes, I'm awake." He replied and she came in.

"Before we head back to Ithalan, I would like to teach you how to ride a horse." She stated.

Shinji got nervous. "Are you sure I am ready for something like that?"

"Of course you are. And Tornac is a fine training horse, since he likes you already." She replied, a hint of amusement on her smirk.

"When did you learn how to ride?" Shinji asked.

"When I was 12. My mother taught me." She answered.

"But aren't we going to look around town if there would be something to buy here?" Shinji asked.

"This town doesn't have many stores. The blacksmith here usually makes mining tools and horse shoes and there is only the general store that sell general goods and clothes. We can do shopping in Ithalan with the reward money and you can use some of the mithril to make yourself a weapon." Ayl explained.

"Well I suppose I could try to make a weapon, but I would like to make that weapon with Gallus." Shinji replied, referring to Ayl's blacksmith friend whom he assisted during his training.

"Good Shinji. I was hoping you would ask to have Gallus to help you since you only handled iron and steel during your training. And with the reward money, I also want to buy you some armor." Ayl said.

"Well then, it has to be light armor because I'm not strong enough to walk around wearing anything heavier. Like iron or steel." Shinji pointed out. "And using my powers 24/7 to make it lighter would be too tedious."

"'24/7'?" Ayl asked, wondering what that meant.

"Yeah. 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It's how people in my world traditionally measure time. By the week." Shinji said. "The work-week." he added.

"Huh. Never heard it put like that before. But I was thinking leather armor that protects you from bladed weapons. There is an armor shop that sells magically enhanced armor with all kinds of useful abilities." Ayl replied.

"Sounds good. Are we going to eat something before we leave?" Shinji asked.

"That would be a good idea. I will teach you how to ride Tornac at the meadow. It will take a few hours so we will get hungry." Ayl said.

They both gathered their things and went downstairs to have breakfast, which was a simple meal of bread and some vegetables. Ayl said that she couldn't wait to eat Hana's boar stew again.

Heading to the stables, some miners passed them along the way and some even said their thanks for clearing out the monsters.

Reaching the stables, the owner came forth. "Ah, you're still alive. So you decided to leave the quest and run away?"

"Nope. The monsters are taken care of." Ayl replied.

The owner stared at them in amazement. "You actually killed all those abominations?"

"Yes. It was pretty easy thanks to my partner." Ayl said, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"In that case, I thank you for that. My son can earn money to support his family once again." The owner said and tossed a silver coin to Ayl. "It was three silvers for 2 nights. Since you're leaving after one night, you get one back as a refund."

Pocketing the coin, they said their thanks to the owner and saddled Tornac, who was happy to see them again. Owner said that the horse had already eaten.

Cantering out of the town and towards the forest path they had taken to get to Sendorio, Ayl made Tornac gallop once they were out of the town, Shinji holding on to her once again, secretly hoping that Ayl was in her female form instead.

Stopping at the place where they stopped yesterday, they climbed down from Tornac's back. Shinji's ass was sore once again, but this time he didn't make the soreness go away. Mainly because he didn't want to get whacked on the head again.

"Alright then Shinji. This meadow is a good place for practice. But first, give Tornac some water." Ayl stated.

Once again, Shinji made the fountain mandala from which Tornac eagerly drank water for 10 minutes until he stopped. This time it was harder because the soreness was making the concentration more difficult.

Once again, Tornac drank the water for 10 minutes before Ayl told him to stop. "Alright then Shinji, first I will teach you how to put on the saddle."

"Do I take off the saddle if I camp out in the wilderness?" Shinji asked.

"Yes and no. If you camp out in the wilderness when there is a town or city close by, you leave the saddle on in case you have to escape when a monster attacks suddenly. But if you are far away from the nearest town, then you take the saddle off, since running off somewhere in the dark in a middle of nowhere is never advised." Ayl explained.

"Alright, got it." Shinji replied.

"I will show you how to put on the saddle and then how to take it off. After that, you will do that for an hour so your body remembers the movements." Ayl said.

"Oh so it's a muscle memory thing." Shinji said, understanding the point.

"A what?" Ayl asked.

Shinji spent the next 5 minutes explaining the muscle memory to her.

"I see. That's actually a pretty good name for this thing. But watch closely now."

First Ayl showed him how to take the saddle off, with him watching closely. Then she put it back on.

"Now, your turn Shinji." Ayl said and watched closely if he remembered what she showed him.

For the next hour, Shinji kept repeating the motions of putting the saddle on, then taking it off. He forgot a few things at first, but after Ayl pointed out what he forgot, he remembered them. An hour passed and his elven mentor was satisfied with the results.

"Good. You can now put the saddle on and take it off. Now I'll show you how to ride." She said when he put the saddle back on.

First Ayl showed him how to tap the sides of the horse with his heels, just enough to make him move without hurting him. The walk, pace, trot, canter and gallop speeds, similar to the ones in his world. She also explained how to tug on the reins to make him turn. And how to make him stop.

"But today Shinji, you will only learn the walk and pace speeds. We will train the other speeds at some other time." Ayl said as she climbed down from the saddle.

He was kinda glad to hear that as he climbed on the saddle.

"Now just take it slow Shinji and remember what I showed you. You will be fine." Ayl assured.

For the next three hours Shinji rode around the pond in walk and pace speeds to get used to it. The soreness of his ass wasn't bothering him much after a while, and he wasn't as nervous as he was in the beginning.

When he stopped next to Ayl, she was smiling.

"Very good Shinji. You learn pretty quickly." She praised him.

"My mother was a genius, so I inherited her intelligence." Shinji retorted, feeling good that he was praised by his mentor.

"Yes, you mentioned her a couple of times. But anyway, it's about time that we get out of here and head back to Ithalan. I want to get the reward money and then eat Hana's boar stew." Ayl said and jumped on the saddle as he moved back to make room for her.

An hour later they arrived at Ithalan and went to the stables. Walking Tornac inside the owner Brom came up.

"Miss Ayl, how was your mission?" he asked.

"Another success, thanks to Shinji here." Ayl said, slapping her hand on Shinji's shoulder.

Brom looked at Shinji with jealousy once again. He was hoping that Shinji wouldn't make it.

"But anyway, I'm here to return Tornac." Ayl said, handing the reins to Brom.

"Of course. Be back soon to rent him again." Brom said and took the horse to it's stall.

The duo left the stables and started walking towards the Guild.

"Is it just me or are some people looking at me like they want me to disappear?" Shinji asked.

"Yes, some people do wish that you wouldn't exist. They are jealous of you, because you get to spend time with me." Ayl answered.

"How long have you been wearing that disguise by the way?" Shinji asked, remembering that he hadn't asked about it before.

"About 6 years now. Disguises like these are expensive and require permissions to wear. So pretty much everyone who knows me have seen my real form." Ayl answered.

"And a lot of men are lusting after you because elven women are popular among human men." Shinji added.

"Precisely." She retorted bluntly.

They didn't say anything else until they reached the Guild.

"Now then Shinji, take this." Ayl said, handing him the Quest Completion Form.

"So I am reporting that the mission is completed?" Shinji asked, taking the paper.

"That's right. If you take on a quest on your own, you have to know how to do this." She replied.

"Alright then." He said, walking to the counter on the right at the entrance hall, where several adventurers leered at Ayl once again and some of them glared at Shinji. Krulcifer watched from the furthest counter at the pair, glad to see them both unharmed.

The receptionist at the counter, who was a dark blue-haired and light-violet eyed 18 year old woman named Sharis, who was wearing a white guild uniform like Krulcifer.

"Are you here to report that a quest was completed?" Sharis asked.

"Yes, I'm here to report that a quest was completed." Shinji said, handing her the form. She read it, which had Alex Rompso's signature and seal at the bottom.

"This was the salt mine quest right?" She asked him.

He nodded.

She pulled out another paper and compared the signatures and seal on the papers.

"Do you have evidence of the dead monsters?" she asked

He opened the storage and pulled out the golems mana-crystal and the bag of goblin ears and handed them to her.

Sharis counted the ears in the bag and nodded.

"Very good. You have confirmed that the quest is indeed completed and shall receive the reward that was promised for it." she said.

She handed him the bag and the crystal, which he placed back in the storage. Sharis went over to the large metallic chest that was at the back of the receptionist office. She opened it with a key she had on her and pulled out a heavy looking leather bag, which she brought over to him.

"Good work on clearing out the mine with Ayl, Shinji." Sharis congratulated.

"Thank you." He said and took the bag. The other adventurers gritted their teeth jealously, cursing his good fortune and accomplished feat.

"Now then Shinji, let's get the weapons, crystal and ears appraised." Ayl said, taking the coin bag and leading him to Bolgan's counter. "Hey Bolgan, we have some goods to sell, but there's a lot of it, so could we enter the storeroom?" Ayl asked the bearded man.

"Of course. Come in." He said and opened the door next to the counter.

The man lead them to a back room where a lot of crates were on shelves and there was a large table at the back.

"Now then, show me what you have." Bolgan told them.

Shinji opened his magical storage and pulled out the bag of ears, the shaman's staff, mana crystal and with his metal powers, he pulled out the weapons.

"Wow! Lots of stuff today." Bolgan said as he started to look over the stuff he presented him.

They waited for 15 minutes and Bolgan was done evaluating the items.

"Alright, I'm done. I've seen these goblin weapons before, and these ears. I'll give you five gold for the ears, and three for the weapons. This staff is interesting, and this crystal is something I haven't seen in years. I will give you seven gold for both of these." He said.

"15, huh? Very well then." Ayl said, surprised that the stuff was worth that much.

They went back to the entrance hall where Bolgan gave them their promised reward.

"Alright then. That wraps up todays business Shinji. And now, some stew!" Ayl said, her mouth watering at the idea.

Shinji just smirked at the face she made when she mentioned food.

Walking out of the Guild and towards the inn, Shinji turned to his mentor.

"Are we going to buy the armor and make the weapons for me tomorrow?" He asked.

"Yes. It's getting rather late and I want to eat that stew right now." Ayl said, walking faster then normally.

He decided not to ask anything more today. Mostly since he was hungry as well.

Reaching the inn and entering, some people were sitting around the tables, drinking and eating and to Shinji's surprise, playing dices.

' _I had no idea there were dices in this world_.' He thought, glad to know that there was at least one game they could play.

Hana came out of the kitchen, carrying bottles of alcoholic drinks on a tray and placing them on the shelves, not seeing the pair at first. When they came over to the counter where she was placing the bottles, they didn't say anything and waited for her to finish.

When she turned around and saw the pair, she was dumbfounded at first, but then she exploded into a smile. "SHINJI! AYL! You made it!"

"Of course, Hana. Shinji said that we would be fine." Ayl said.

"Yes he did, but I was still worried. I'm glad to see you back." She said happily.

"And I'm glad to be back. We will tell you about the quest once we get some of that stew you promised us." Ayl said, a drop of drool coming out of her mouth.

"Of course, take a seat. Do you want mead as well?" Hana inquired.

"Of course." Ayl replied.

Hana took a medium sized bottle of mead and handed it to Ayl, along with two tankards. Going over to the table with Shinji, she popped the bottle and poured the cups full.

Gulping down the first tankard, Ayl exclaimed: "Gaahh! Nothing like a good cold drink after a hard days work."

Shinji smirked at the Misato-antic. He thought that Ayl and Misato would get along a little too well.

Drinking his own drink at the leisure pace, Shinji enjoyed the sweet tastiness.

Hana brought them two plates filled with stew and spoons. "Here you go Shinji, Ayl. Enjoy." She went back to the kitchen.

The stew was steaming and looking delicious like the previous time they had it during his training, so they started eating it and enjoyed the meat, potatoes, beans and onions that were in the stew. Ayl was practically scarfing it like there was no tomorrow, while Shinji just enjoyed it slowly.

Just then Hana came back with her own plate of stew and a small bottle of mead. "Can I join you?" She asked

"Of course Hana. You are always welcomed to join us." Ayl said before Shinji could say anything.

Once again people started to glare at Shinji in jealousy.

She took a seat and started eating. "Are you on break now Hana?" Shinji asked after he ate another spoonful of stew.

"My shift ended just now. My aunt came over to run things for the rest of the day. She is going to sing on stage after the fireplace is lit." Hana answered taking a drink.

"Oh, you did mention that your aunt sings here once in a while. I finally get to hear her singing." Shinji said, glad to hear that there would be some music for change. He missed music and his playlists from his previous world. Hana had mentioned her aunt, Juna Doma a couple of times during his training, but he had never seen her. Hana said that she usually handled the other inn she owned near the Nobles District, since many nobles and their adult kids and servants often came over there to relax and listen to her singing.

So they ate and drank the mead until Hana asked: "Would you tell me about your quest?"

"You tell her Shinji. I'll get some more stew. Do you want more?" Ayl asked.

"Sure." He answered, giving his empty plate to her. "Alright then Hana. This is how it happened." Shinji started telling her how their quest went as Ayl smiled at their interactions.

He told her about Tornac, whom Hana already knew since Ayl had mentioned the horse and how they rode to Sendorio and faced the golem and the goblins. Hana was surprised and in awe that Shinji defeated the mithril golem and most of the goblins by throwing the mithril shards at them and how Ayl taught him how to ride Tornac. And how much money they made from the quest. Hana was aware of his metal powers because they told her during his training, which is why she wasn't too surprised by his powers that decimated the monsters.

Shinji and Ayl had eaten their second plate of stew and they still had half a bottle of mead left. Then Hana told them that her aunt would start singing soon now that one of the employee's had made a fire at the fireplace.

Just then, Hana's aunt walked in from the employee lounge. Her hair was dark blue, just like her eyes and she was wearing a blue and white dress that showed off her cleavage. The dress itself looked like a formal party dress and very expensive. Shinji then remembered that she had an Inn in the Nobles district, so she had to have something more presentable for when she sang there. Behind her walked a young girl with white wolf ears and a tail, she was wearing a fine skirt and a blouse that were also blue. She was also carrying a music instrument that looked like a wooden guitar and a small black case on her other hand. All the customers went silent when they locked their eyes on Hana's aunt.

"Good evening dear customers. I apologize for not being here to sing more often, but as you know, my other Inn keeps me rather busy. But today, I will sing something I haven't sung here before." She announced on stage. The crowd cheered for her.

The wolf girl sat on a small chair at the side of the stage. "Now then, I will sing you an ancient song that no one has ever been able to decipher, but the music itself has a sooting effect on those who listen." Juna said as the wolf girl started playing.

The song was about six minutes long, but the effect it had was very soothing, almost hypnotic. Shinji thought that Juna could have been a popular idol in his world. Her voice was also quite lovely. So it was no wonder that she was the most popular songstress in Ithalan.

The crowd gave her a standing ovation and clapped loudly. She bowed graciously to them and then said that the next song would be a famous sad song that another famous singer Lorelei made centuries ago. The wolf girl pulled out a flute from her black case and started playing the tune.

Shinji and Ayl, along with Hana and the other patrons of the inn felt a strong sense of melancholy when they heard the sad song sung in such a beautiful voice. A single tear fell down from Ayl's eye.

When the song was over, Shinji had a hard time suppressing his tears. The song was just so sad. The crowd clapped their hands once again.

Juna announced that she will take a short break and return shortly. The wolf girl went to the kitchen, while Juna came over to their table.

"Hana, is this the one you told me about?" Juna asked her niece.

"Yes aunt. This is Shinji Ikari whom I told you about." Hana answered as Juna took a seat.

"Ayl, good to see you again." Juna greeted the elven warrior.

"You haven't lost your touch Juna." Ayl said back.

"Thank you. One day I will be too old to sing." She said with a smirk.

"I hope not too soon." Ayl said.

"Greetings Shinji. I am Juna Doma, the owner of this inn. Hana told me about you and how you helped her." She stated bluntly.

His face became slightly red. "It was my pleasure to help her." He replied.

"The gift you have is truly remarkable. Hana has met many healers, but none of them could help her. And now you saved my niece by giving her a chance for a normal life that she can enjoy. I must thank you properly." Juna said.

"You don't have to." he protested.

"Oh, now you're just being polite." Juna teased.

Shinji looked over at Ayl, who only smiled and motioned with her head towards Juna.

"Well, what did you have in mind?" He asked.

"How about I let you stay here free of charge? You'd still have to pay for the food and drinks of course." Juna said.

"Take the offer Shinji." Ayl said, taking a swig of mead.

"If you insist Miss Juna, then I accept your generous offer." Shinji replied.

"I do insist. And this also makes you the second person I have extended this offer to. Ayl being the first, but the offer expired some time ago." Juna said.

Shinji just looked at Ayl with an amused smirk, she gave him a toothy grin.

"By the way Shinji, do you have any musical skills?" Juna asked.

"Well I do play the cello, but it has been a while." He replied. During his training, he asked Ayl if there were any cello's in this world and to his surprise, there were, but they were rare.

"Would you mind playing a cello for me sometime in the future?" Juna asked.

"I might if I have the time, but I would have to practice first. Like I said, it's been while since I played." He replied.

"Wonderful. I might ask you to play sometime, but if you don't have time, I have someone else who can play. But I'm going back to stage now." Juna said and left the table.

It was in the midst of her song that Hana tapped Shinji on the one.

"Shinji, would you come with me?" Hana whispered to him.

"Eh, go where?" He asked.

"To my room." She said.

"Is it okay?" He asked, getting a bit nervous now. Because if he was alone with Hana, who knows what might happen.

"It is. So will you come?" She asked again, her face turning red.

"Okay, I will." He replied, nervous but wanting to see what Hana had in mind.

"Have fun you two." Ayl said with a grin as they left the table.

Hana lead Shinji to the third floor where her room was. He had never been there before because Hana hadn't invited him and he didn't want to intrude.

She opened the door and after entering she locked the door. Shinji looked around the room. There was a desk like the one Ayl had in her room and there was also the same kind of comfortable bed like the other rooms, a closet, some candles and a book with a title: Medicines and Herbs.

There was also a wine bottle on the table, which was kept cool by an ice colored mandala. Hana could use fire and water magic, which were handy in her job as a cook.

"How about a drink of wine Shinji? It's one of the finer qualities." Hana asked.

"Sure, if you don't mind." He replied.

"If I minded, I wouldn't offer Shinji." She countered.

Hana took two small glasses from her drawer and poured them halfway with the wine that had a bloody color. She handed one to Shinji, who took a sip and found the fruity taste quite enticing. Another drink he could get used to. They finished their drinks and Hana started talking, fidgeting with a red face.

"Shinji, I want to tell you something." Hana started.

"What is Hana?" Shinji asked, quite eager and nervous to hear what she was going to say.

"I told you before that when I had the diseases, I never thought that I would be able to enjoy life. I never had friends because I kept to myself out of fear. But when Ayl helped me out of kindness, we became friends and she has been supporting me over the years, by making me laugh and putting a smile on my face with her stories. And then, you appeared. You cured me, gave me a chance for a happy life." She paused for moment before she continued. "Now I can live without having to worry about bleeding and I can finally see everything clearly. Now that I can see, I can finally walk around town without worrying about bumping into anything and hurting myself. For this gift Shinji, I am forever grateful to you." She said with a happy smile, her face was red and she had tears in her eyes.

"And I told you Hana, I am happy that I could help you. A woman like you deserves lots of friends. And I am glad that I can be your friend." Shinji said with a red face. This whole situation was quite overwhelming for him because he just made a beautiful womans life better with his Goddess-given abilities.

"But Shinji, I want us to be more then friends." Hana said after some hesitation, even as she poured another glass of wine for herself and Shinji.

That statement surprised him. "Eh? What are you saying Hana?" he asked as she quickly finished her drink.

"I... want to become your lover. Will you take me as your lover Shinji?" Hana asked, who looked really anxious.

"I'm happy that you would want me as your lover Hana, but, are you sure you want someone like me as your lover?" Shinji asked with a shocked expression.

"Someone like you? You are the kindest and most generous man I have ever met. Even if you go on adventures, I will wait for you." She said as she got closer to him.

"I don't have any experience in this sort of thing Hana. I'm not sure if I could make you happy." He replied with a nervous red face, quicky downing his own wine.

"I'm also inexperienced Shinji. I am also unsure how to make you happy. So let's learn together." She said, also with a nervous red face.

He hesitated before answering. "Very well Hana. I accept your feelings, since I also like you."

She took the glasses and put them on the table behind her, before she moved to Shinji and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly, nuzzling her cheek against his. He wrapped his arms around her back, enjoying the feeling of her soft body and breasts against his chest.

They stayed like that for minute before Hana pulled back to look him in the eyes and she asked: "May I kiss you Shinji?"

"Of course. It's my first time though." He replied.

"It's my first time as well." She said and slowly pressed her lips against his.

Her arms wrapped around his neck, holding him close as she kissed him and rubbed up against his body. Shinji moaned as he kissed her back, his hands rubbing along her back. At first their movements were clumsy and hesitant due to their inexperience, but after a while they got the hang of it.

Hana pushed herself back as she pulled her shirt over her head, exposing herself to him, which shocked him at first. The young champion just stared at the beautiful young woman, inadvertently comparing her body to Misato. Though he was sure Misato didn't want him like Hana did, and Hana apparently ate heathier than Misato did. And not for Shinjis attempts at trying to improve her eating habits.

Shinji dropped his cloak as Hana helped pull his shirt off of his body. She wrapped her arms around Shinji's neck and kissed him again, her breasts pushing up against his bare chest. Shinji's hands wrapped around her shapely body, holding her close as he caressed her skin. His hands slid down the sides of her body, coming to the hem of her pants. He slowly pulled them down, Hana's heart was beating wildly now as she was exposed to him. She wore no bra, but her panties, more like bikini briefs, were tied off at the sides.

Shinji left them on, as well as his pants, as he lifted Hana off the floor, her arms and legs wrapped around him, and carried her over to the bed. He sat her down on the edge of the bed, her legs still wrapped around Shinji, but she pulled back and ran her hands over his bare chest, admiring the training that Ayl had put him thought the last couple of weeks.

"Your skin feels so good Shinji." Hana said, herself feeling a little tipsy now.

"So does yours." He said with a smile.

Shinji moved Hana further up onto the bed, the young woman pulling Shinji down on top of her as she embraced him tightly.

"Shinji." She moaned softly as the young champion kissed her softly.

"May I touch you, Hana?" He asked, but he was thinking that his heart was going to explode real soon at this rate. The stimulation and excitement he hadn't felt before was unbelievable.

"Yes." She said.

Shinji raised his hands to gently cup and caress her chest, the young woman gasping as she felt him knead her breasts like she kneaded dough in the kitchen.

He loomed over her as he slid his hand down her smooth stomach and into her panties, touching her moist womanhood as delicately as he could. Hana gasped and moaned, more erotically than even she thought she was capable of, as Shinji's hands touched her in ways she never imagined. Shinji stared at Hana, intently paying attention to her reactions, how she responded to his touch, what she liked and didn't like. It was then that his fingers touched a very sensitive nerve.

Hana let out an impassioned gasp as pleasure shot through her body like she had never felt.

"UWAAAHH! Oh, Shinji!" She moaned as her body shuddered with indescribable joy, stretching herself out on impulse.

She stared into Shinjis eyes as he removed his hand from her womanhood.

"Shinji. Shinji." She panted, her hands holding the sides of his face so close to her own. "I... I want you. Please."

"I want you, too, Hana." He whispered back, staring deeply into her eyes. "But... not yet. I... I want to get to know you more. I... (gulp) I want to know how to really please you. To make you happy."

Hana smiled beautifully at his compassion and concern. He wasn't just going to take her out of lust. He wanted to know her better than anyone else. As a real lover would.

Hana had been told by her aunt and mother how a man and a woman made love to each other, and the one thing that Juna had told her, above all else, was that if a man wanted to be with you, he would take his time to get to know you. He wouldn't rush, and he would make it good for you as well.

Hana wrapped her arms around Shinji's body and with all her strength, flipped the pair of them over so that she was on top. She straddled his waist and laid herself across his body, kissing him intensely as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Shinji held her close, his hands rubbing her back and down to her hips, as he felt her bare breasts push and rub against him.

The desire to take her virginity right there was overwhelming. But no. Shinji wanted something more than a single hot night of scoring with a beautiful woman. He wanted something... long-term.

The pair eventually wore themselves out, hugging and kissing and petting each other. Falling asleep wrapped in each others arms, Hana felt happy as she cuddled against Shinji.

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Authors Notes:

Well, here's Chapter 6, and I thank Reisfriend for writing the majority of this. I added a few things here and there, and the Lime at the end, and the omakes.

Hope everyone enjoyed this.

Next chapter: to be announced by the co-author, so stay tuned.

Please read and review.

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OMAKE (Just something random I came up with)

The four adventurers walked into the Inn. The first two loud and boisterous.

Misato the Fighter, wearing black bikini armor with gold trim, a red cloak around her shoulders and a sword on her hip.

Asuka the Ranger, wearing red and green leather armor, a quiver of arrows on her back and she was carrying her bow in her left hand.

Rei the Druid, wearing a green cloak over her and unflattering green shirt and trousers with brown boots, her blue hair, red eyes and pale skin covered by her hood.

Shinji the Cleric, dressed in a brown cloak and white tunic with matching pants and carrying a metal staff with the symbol for Galac the God of Metal on the head of the staff, and around his neck was a medallion with the symbol of Lianna the Goddess of Healing.

"HANA! We're back from another adventure! Bring Mead and Wine and much food, for we are hungry and thirsty!" Misato shouted as she slammed a large bag of coins on the counter.

Asuka was pissed at Misato's popularity, Shinji was upset that Misato was going to spend all their money on food again, and Rei was just hungry since Misato ate all their food last time.

Around the Inn, various people were watching this.

Kaji the Rogue was wondering if he could skim a few coins off of the Adventuring Group. Asuka was always happy to see him.

Makoto the paladin was once again having lustful thoughts of the beautiful Misato.

Shigeru the bard was hoping to talk to them afterwards, maybe to gain another story to sing about.

Maya the sorceress was hoping to hear about their adventures, hoping to gain inspiration for her own magical power set.

Ritsuko the Transmuter and her mentor, Fuyutsuki the Diviner, were trying to ignore Misatos loud and flashy entrance, planning their next recruiting mission.

Hikari the Evoker was always happy to see her friend Asuka.

Toji the barbarian was trying to order more food, but was light on funds.

Kensuke the thief was wondering if they had anything else of value besides the bag of coins.

Needless to say Shinji and Rei would have much apologizing to do later. And Shinji was sure his healing powers were going to be used on Misato's liver later that night. If it wasn't orcs and goblins trying to kill her, she was doing it to herself with alcohol.

Hana came out with the tray of food, happy to see Shinji and Rei. The pair had been Hana's friends for a while, ever since they saved her life and healed her of her injuries. Asuka never understood why Hana liked them more than her, but then again, she wasn't the one who had been blessed by the Gods with the power over metal and the power to heal, which Misato exploited to no end on her quests.

It made her almost reckless.

After Misato got soused enough, and Shinji and Rei told Hana about their quest to battle the minions of Gendo the Warlock, Shinji and Rei had to carry her up to her room that she shared with Asuka. Shinji healed her up before she died of liver poisoning before leaving.

Shinji and Rei shared a room, which Asuka always accused them of having sex whenever they were inside. This wasn't true. The pair were lovers, but they didn't have sex every time they returned to the inn.

Shinji and Rei were glad to have the time to themselves, having eaten their dinner that Hana saved for them, and now just wanted to rest. Snuggling into bed, the pair just slept, and hoped tomorrow would bring them some measure of comfort.


	7. Shopping And A Challenge

**_SHINJIS NEW LIFE  
_** by Gunman & Reisfriend

Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion or their characters.

Summary: Shinji buys armor and faces another adventurer.

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Chapter 7  
 **Shopping and a Challenge**

Shinji opened his eyes from a peaceful sleep, despite everything he had gone through in his short life. The first thing he saw was Hana's sleeping face, the events of last night coming back to his mind. His face turned a bit red at the memory.

Her arm was stretched over his body and she was breathing softly, evidently having a good dream. He slowly got up and sat on the edge of the bed, his pants still on.

' _Last night, I gave her an orgasm with my fingers and fondled boobs for the first time in my life. And not just any regular boobs. Those boobs of hers were so soft that I almost got carried away. We even kissed_.' Shinji thought, still finding it hard to believe.

Not only was Hana a beauty who would have been well sought after in his world, he probably wouldn't even get to speak with a beauty like her, but now, in a fantasy world, he got to be intimate with someone like that.

' _How in the hell did I give her an orgasm with just my fingers? She can't be that sensitive_.' He thought after processing the situation.

"Maybe I can explain that to you." Shinji heard Lianna speaking.

Looking up from the floor, he saw the Goddess who gave him his healing powers.

"No flash of light this time?" Shinji asked jokingly.

She giggled. "Fufu, no, no flash of light this time." She replied.

"Explain what?" He asked.

"The reason why you could make her cum with your fingers." She said.

"Are you reading my mind?" He asked, she nodded.

"Would you stop reading my mind? My mind is quite private." He said.

"Nope. You are my champion after all, so I have to offer help to you when you are troubled by something. And since you can't call me, I have to check on you from time to time. So reading your mind is the fastest way to figure out if there is something I can help you with." She replied.

He sighed. She was most likely doing it for her amusement and there was nothing he could do about it, so he decided to just live with it.

"And what is the explanation you're offering to my question?"

"It very simple Shinji. The women of this world are more sensitive to those things." She answered shortly. He made a surprised face for that.

"The longer explanation is this. In your world, most women won't experience an orgasm in their entire lives even if they had sex daily, because God made them like that in that world. But in this world, he corrected a few things. In this world, every woman is sensitive to stimuli and they can easily experience an orgasm and they don't have a hymen that would hurt them when they have sex for the first time. Sex is much more enjoyable to them and to men sex is even more pleasurable then in your previous world. Your body has also changed like that. So when you have sex with her, it will feel even better then it ever would in your previous world." She explained.

"Wow. That is quite convenient." Shinji said, his performance anxiety easing away. He was worried that he wouldn't be able to please Hana when that time came, but this revelation made him feel better.

"Fufu, I'm looking forward to the steamy night you are going to have with her when the time comes." Lianna said with a toothy grin.

"Don't peep on us when we do that!" Shinji shouted with an embarrassed face.

"Don't worry, I was just teasing you." She replied. He wasn't quite convinced by her promise.

"Was there something else you wanted to tell me?" Shinji asked.

"Yes, my father sends his compliments on your first successful mission. Your powers are now at their peak efficiency, so you can control metal even at a distance." Lianna paused and continued. "And also, my other relative, the Goddess of Love, has also been keeping an eye on you."

"No way." Shinji said, finding it quite tiresome that Gods were watching his life like some reality show.

"Yes way. She said that she might even set up an event for you with another woman who finds you interesting." Lianna replied with an amused smirk.

"Another woman finds me interesting? Who?" He asked.

"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, now would it?" She said and then vanished back to the God's Realm.

"Hey!" Shinji shouted, annoyed that she just suddenly vanished like that without a word.

"Huaaaahh!" Hana yawned when she woke up. "Good morning Shinji."

"Good morning Hana." He replied back to his lover.

"I haven't slept this well in ages. Maybe it's because of you." Hana said as she crawled up to him and embraced him, her bare breasts mashed against his bare back.

' _UWAH! This softness is incredible no matter how many times I feel it!_ ' He thought pervertedly, which was normal for a guy of his age.

"What are you going to do today Shinji?" Hana asked, her face having a tint of red from the embarrassing, yet exciting feeling of hugging her loved one with her nude body.

"Ah, I was going to buy some armor and make some weapons with the mithril I got from the golem." He replied, snapping out of the euphoria of skinship.

"How about some food first? I'll make you some pea soup and sandwiches." Hana suggested.

"Sure, I happen to like pea soup." Shinji replied, turning around and giving her a kiss on a cheek, because he was feeling bold and thankful.

"Hihi, thanks Shinji." Hana giggled, blushing from the kiss but also because she liked it.

They started getting dressed and when they did, they headed downstairs, only to meet Ayl when she came out of her room.

"Ah Shinji, good timing. Come here, there's something we have to do first." Ayl said.

"What is it?" He asked, walking towards her.

"We have to split the money we earned. And Hana, if you're making breakfast, make some for me too." Ayl said.

"Of course, Ayl." Hana said and continued towards the kitchen.

Shinji entered Ayl's room, where the reward money was placed on the table. 55 gold coins in total for the quest and goods they brought back.

"Now then Shinji, I told you before that we would split the loot evenly, but since you did most of the hard work, you get 45 coins." Ayl said suddenly.

"Are you sure Ayl?" He asked, surprised by her generosity.

"Of course. I already have more money then I can spend in 20 years and I couldn't have completed the salt mine mission alone. So you deserve the share I'm offering." Ayl countered.

"Well, since you insist..." Shinji said and pulled out his coin bag from his storage, which had 4 gold coins and 5 silver coins left. Dropping the money in the bag, it became quite heavy and fat, but having that much money made him feel good.

"You should feel proud, Shinji. Some adventurers don't make even half that much of money in a year." Ayl said to him.

"Where is the armor shop we are going to?" Shinji asked after he stored his money in the storage.

"At the southern edge of the Financial District. The owner is a dwarf named Orik, who happens to be Gallus's younger brother." Ayl said.

"So Gallus had a brother. I never could have imagined." Shinji said, thinking about the blacksmith who let them use his shop to help Shinji train with his powers before the salt mine quest.

"Well that's how he is. He rarely says anything about his family or personal life." Ayl said.

"Oh. But let's go eat, Hana is making some pea soup and sandwiches." Shinji said, hoping to see Ayl's cute hungry face and he didn't get disappointed. Whenever food was involved, Ayl couldn't stop herself.

She hurried downstairs only to see some man grabbing Hana's hand.

"Come on now Hana, I can make you feel really good." The man said, holding her wrist tightly.

"No, let me go!" Hana shouted.

"Why do you reject me? I would take good care of you." The man in blue outfit said.

"Because I don't like you. And you tried to force me into a relationship with you." Hana said angrily.

"Without me you will still be half-blind and impaired by your 'conditions'." He said.

She gave the man a pointed look as he kept holding on to her.

"You didn't know?" She asked.

"Know what?" he asked.

"I don't need your half-baked elixirs that don't heal anything. I'm cured."

Before the man could say anything, his right hand ring finger, which had a platinum ring on it, was twisted back. "AARRGGHH!" He shouted in pain.

He tried to move his finger but couldn't, because some kind of invisible force was pulling it.

"So you're the healer who tried to extort Hana." Shinji said as he walked in front of Hana.

"Who the hell are you?!" The man shouted.

"I am Hana's lover. And unlike you, I didn't force her into anything." Shinji replied.

"HANA IS MINE YOU AAARRRRHHHHH!" The man shouted as Shinji bent his finger some more.

"Hana is not some object that you own. And I'm making it very clear to you now that if you ever harass her again, I will break your bones." Shinji said and released his power from the ring the man had on his finger.

"YOU WILL REGRET THIS!" The man shouted and ran out.

"Nicely done Shinji. But don't think that he gives up that easy." Ayl said, walking up to Shinji.

"Well if he does try anything, I will hurt him some more." Shinji said to Ayl before Hana had him in a hug again.

"Thank you, Shinji." Hana said with a happy smile.

"You're welcome Hana. You don't have to worry about that asshat again." Shinji said, stroking her hair.

"I hope so. I don't want to see him again. But I'll start with the breakfast." Hana said and went to the kitchen after releasing him.

"What should I expect from that guy Ayl?" Shinji asked.

"He will probably hire some thugs to rough you up." Ayl answered.

"Well, I'll just toss them around with my power and then break his finger." Shinji told her.

"No killing?" Ayl asked.

"I don't want to get arrested." Shinji replied.

"That's right Shinji. You would get arrested if you killed him and probably executed." Ayl said, reminding him that there were laws in this city. ' _Unless he started something first_.' She thought.

Hana came out of the kitchen with sandwiches. "Here's an appetizer for you, soup will be ready shortly."

They started eating the bread and Hana also ate with them when she brought the soup.

Half an hour later, Ayl and Shinji were heading towards the armor shop. Shinji kept looking around and saw some shops and street stalls he would have stopped to look over, but now was not the time, since Ayl wasn't in the mood for shopping.

They arrived at the armor shop, which looked like any other shop, except there was wooden board hanging over the door which had a cuirass carved on it and there was a window with some expensive looking armors on display.

Entering the shop, which had suits of armor on both walls on display with price tags. The owner Orik was behind the counter looking over his books.

"Orik, it has been a while." Ayl said as she approached the counter.

"Ah Ayl, so you've come to visit my shop again. Hopefully you'll buy something this time, since business has been rather slow lately." Orik said.

Shinji looked at the dwarf. He was just as short as his brother Gallus and he had a long beard with tints of grey on it and his arms looked like something a bodybuilder would have. His clothing were made from brown hide and he had a blacksmiths apron on.

"That's probably because most people can't afford your more expensive armor and the armor you have sold are so durable that they don't have to buy any new ones, since the ones they already have are still good." Ayl lectured.

"Could be, but dwarven pride won't allow me to make weak armor. So what brings you here today?" Orik replied.

"I would like to have some leather armor for my new apprentice Shinji here." Ayl answered, pointing at Shinji who was looking at the most expensive armor on display.

"New apprentice? How long have you two been working together?" Orik asked, curious about the new guy.

"Just over two weeks now. Thanks to him, the salt mine was cleared up from monsters. He has the power over metal that was given to him by the God of Metal." Ayl answered.

Orik stared at the boy in amazement. Having power over metal was every dwarf's dream.

"So he used that power to destroy the golem?" he asked.

"Yes he did. And quite fast as well. He even tossed the mithril shards to the goblins and killed most of them and I finished off the rest." Ayl declared proudly.

"Do you still have any mithril on you?" Orik asked.

"Are you willing to trade some for the armor?" Ayl asked.

"No. I really need some money to keep my business going." Orik replied.

"Come over here Shinji, let's see what Orik has in stock for you." Ayl called him out and he came over.

"Follow me then." Orik said and led them to the back room.

The back room was more like a storage, since there were several suits of armor of lower quality displayed all around. Orik led them to the far wall where the leather armors were displayed.

"Any particular armor catch your eye?" Orik asked as Shinji looked over the armors.

Shinji looked at the leather armor which were black and the upper armor looked more like a jacket and the gauntlets had some steel on the fingers and on the back of the hand.

"This one looks good." He said to the dwarf.

"This set has a blade resist, stamina reduction, fire resistance and camouflage ability. It can resist blades made from iron and steel, you get tired less quickly, the clothes won't burn and it can change color to blend into surroundings when you say camouflage. This material is made from giant salamander hide and it costs 8 gold." Orik gave the sales speech.

"Hmm, this sounds like a pretty good set Shinji. What do you think?" Ayl asked.

"Those abilities sound like they will come in handy, so I will take it." Shinji replied.

"Very good. Shall I pack it up for you?" Orik asked, glad that he made a sale.

"No need, I'll just put this in my storage." Shinji said and put the suit in his dimensional storage, which surprised Orik.

"It has been over 50 years since I saw a human with Darkness magic. I'm quite jealous because the dimensional storage is so convenient that I could have plenty of uses for it." Orik said.

Shinji handed him the money. Orik counted the money and smiled.

"Pleasure doing business with you lad, come by again." he said.

"I might do that." Shinji said with a bow.

Ayl and Shinji left the store as Shinji had a question.

"Ayl, should we have left some of the mithril with him, so that he could make a weapon for me?" He asked.

"No, because Orik makes armor. His brother Gallus makes weapons. Those two have always rivaled against each other on who is better at blacksmithing, but they made a pact long ago. Orik doesn't make weapons and Gallus doesn't make armor. But what kind of weapon do you favor?" She asked.

"I... I'm not sure." Shinji replied.

"Probably should have talked about that earlier. Oh well, we have time. Don't worry. In the meantime, how about a quest Shinji? Something easy like an herb gathering quest?"

"How far do we have to go to get these herbs?" Shinji asked.

"5 miles at most. Depending on what kind of herbs we have to gather." Ayl answered. "Some herbs are special that grow at least ten miles away."

"And where do you find the most special herbs?" He asked.

"Well I have heard of some rather exotic herbs, far north, but rumor has it they only grow on a cliff where a dragon lives. Of course, that's only a rumor." Ayl answered.

Shinji gave it some thought and figured that some exercise and money wouldn't hurt.

"Sure, let's go. But not to the north."

Ayl smiled and they started walking towards the Guild. On the way they stopped at a street stall to buy some roasted rabbit on a stick which was spiced with herbs. Fantasy worlds version of a fast food joint Shinji thought as he found the rabbit quite tasty and juicy.

When they arrived at the Guild, there were some adventurers gathered at the boards looking over the offers as Shinji went to the F-rank board to look over the available quests.

"How about this one Shinji? These herbs are only 2 miles away and you can get 3 silvers for 10 of them." Ayl said, pointing at the sheets on the bottom of the board.

Shinji looked at the herb in question that was well drawn on the paper. Almost like a photograph.

"What kind of an herb is it?" Shinji asked, since he hadn't studied this worlds flora yet.

"These herbs are used to make potions that recover stamina. They are quite popular among adventurers and sell for a good price in alchemy shops." Ayl said.

"You said 3 silvers for 10 of them? Ten plants, or ten bags of plants?" he asked.

"Ten plants." She said.

"Well then, let's take it." Shinji said and was about to take the sheet when a hand landed on his shoulder.

He turned to look and saw a silver haired woman close to Hana's age with a trident spear on her back. She was wearing light steel armor that was a silver color. The greaves and gauntlets looked like they were a matching set to the armor she wore.

' _Wait, is she the one I saw a couple of times before? Why is her hair a different color_?' Shinji thought to himself.

"You are Shinji Ikari, are you not?" The woman asked.

"I am. Who are you, and what can I do for you?" He replied.

"I am Tia Van Dorin and I challenge you to a duel." She replied bluntly.

"Why would you want to challenge me? Have I offended you in some way?" Shinji asked, not wanting to fight her for no reason. The other adventurers had turned to look at the spectacle.

"No, you haven't offended me. I simply think you might be worthy." Tia replied.

"Worthy of what?" Shinji asked.

"Win the duel and I will tell you." She said.

"Accept her challenge Shinji." Ayl said to him.

"Whose side are you on Ayl?" Shinji half-shouted at her.

"If you don't accept her challenge, the other adventurers will think you are a coward." Ayl said.

After hearing that, Shinji wanted to ask questions about it, but decided to ask later because he didn't want to drag this out.

"Fine. I accept your challenge Tia." Shinji said to the lancer.

"Good. Now follow me to the yard." Tia said and walked to the door that lead out to an area that was behind the Guild headquarters, a large yard which was used for training and fighting. The other adventurers gathered to the windows to see one of their idols fighting against the man who was hogging their other idols attention, hoping that he gets a good thrashing.

The pair stood apart from each other, Ayl and a couple other adventurers were off to the side just watching as the pair got ready. Ayl already knew the outcome of this fight.

Tia gripped her trident with both hands as she angled the head towards Shinji. The young champion of Galac and Lianna squared his feet and kept his eye sharply narrowed at the woman.

"HYAH!" Tia shouted as she charged towards him.

Shinji just stood his ground as the woman thrust her weapon towards him, dodging her attacks with as much skill and dexterity as he could. He ducked down to avoid a strike to his head, then jumped up as she tried to sweep his legs out from under him. Shinji leapt to the side and rolled away, but Tia attacked him once again. This time, she threw a sharp-looking dagger at her opponent, which Shinji was able to deflect with his power.

Some of the adventurers thought it was rather funny, seeing Shinji dodge and run away from the trident-wielding woman.

Tia started to give chase, trying to catch him, but he was running around the yard with the woman swinging her trident at him.

"Stop running and fight me!" She shouted.

"Why? This is fun!" He shouted back.

Ayl almost sweat-dropped at the comical scene before her, her apprentice and partner running around like a... now that she thought about it, he was kind of a child.

That was when Shinji suddenly stopped running and turned around to face her. He threw out his hands once she was close enough to him, and the woman was sent flying backwards. She crashed hard against one of the walls and slumped to the ground. To anyone who saw this would have thought she had been hurled away by his sheer physical strength.

Ayl almost sweat-dropped again, having seen Shinji use that tactic before.

' _Risky, Shinji. Very risky_.' She thought.

Tia wasn't like that mithril golem from the salt mine. She was quicker, smarter, and had magical powers of her own. However, she preferred to use physical strength against her opponents. Shinji was the opposite, mostly since he didn't have a weapon to fully utilize himself.

Tia got back up and shook off her shock at what happened. It felt like her entire body had betrayed her for some reason.

She gripped her trident tightly in her left hand as she pulled out a pair of throwing daggers from her belt. She sprang to her feet and hurled the weapons at Shinji, following up the attack with herself and her trident.

Shinji moved to the side, using his Metal powers to deflect the daggers away, only to have Tia drop her trident on his face. Shinji threw his hands up to block the attack, stopping the trident only an inch from his own hands.

Tia applied more strength to her attack, trying to get to Shinji, only to have her trident suddenly pushed back and into her face, which stunned her for a second, only to have Shinji grab her trident by it's upper head, he pulled it forward towards him, and then pushed it back into her stomach. Tia felt the wind knocked out of her as Shinji threw his hands forward, in what looked like he was pushing her away from him, and she felt her trident slam into her body like a charging bull, hurling her into the air. The strange thing is that she felt like her trident, and her armor, were working against her. Tia flew through the air and crashed hard into the far wall. Her own head knocked back into the wall and she felt her world go black.

She crashed to the ground and onto her face.

Everyone looked stunned by what had just happened. Several of them grimaced, particularly at Shinji for what he had done. Ayl and Shinji rushed over to the fallen woman and examined her.

"How is she?" Ayl asked.

"Appraise." He said, as the green screen appeared over her body. Shinji gasped at what he saw.

"Well?" Ayl asked.

"Uh... A few bruises and minor injures. No broken bones, no internal bleeding. But she does have a concussion." He said, not revealing the other information on the screen. Specifically that she was a quarter vampire.

"Alright. Heal her up and lets take her to the healers office." Ayl said.

Shinji healed her bruises, injuries and concussion using his Recovery chant. When he was done, he picked her up in a princess carry and followed Ayl, who had picked up Tia's weapons. Shinji was using his power to make the armor lighter, because he wasn't strong enough to carry Tia on his own when she was wearing the armor she had.

Ayl lead Shinji to the second floor of the Guild where the Guild healers office was and left her on one of the beds. The healer herself was out on a request to heal someone, Ayl said as they left the office.

They took the herb gathering quest and left the city to find the said herbs.

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Authors Notes:

Here is chapter 7 of my co-written chapter with Reisfriend. Much thanks to him for this venture.

Not much to say here, other than a couple new characters have been introduced, officially, and who Tia really is will be explained later.

Look forward to more later on.

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OMAKE

"HYAH!" Tia shouted as she charged towards him.

Shinji just stood his ground as the woman thrust her weapon towards him, dodging her attacks with as much skill and dexterity as he could. He ducked down to avoid a strike to his head, then jumped up as she tried to sweep his legs out from under him. Shinji leapt to the side and rolled away, but Tia attacked him once again. This time, she threw a sharp-looking dagger at her opponent, which Shinji was able to deflect with his power.

Some of the adventurers thought it was rather funny, seeing Shinji dodge and run away from the trident-wielding woman.

Tia started to give chase, trying to catch him, but he was running around the yard with the woman swinging her trident at him.

"Stop running and fight me!" She shouted.

"Why? This is fun!" He shouted back.

Ayl almost sweat-dropped at the comical scene before her, her apprentice and partner running around like a... now that she thought about it, he was kind of a child.

That was when Shinji suddenly stopped running and turned around to face her.

He stretched his arms out, causing Tia to pause. Tia released her trident and suddenly began dancing around.

"What is going on? What is this?" Tia shouted as she pranced around like a ballerina.

"This, my dear, is what you get metal armor and gloves and greaves." Shinji said as Tia spun around and around and around and around until she was dizzy as all get out. She collapsed onto the ground, feeling exhausted and nauseous

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OMAKE 2

"Huaaaahh!" Hana yawned when she woke up. "Good morning Shinji."

"Good morning Hana." He replied back to his lover.

"I haven't slept this well in ages. Maybe it's because of you." Hana said as she crawled up to him and embraced him, her bare breasts mashed against his bare back.

' _UWAH! This softness is incredible no matter how many times I feel it!_ ' He thought pervertedly, which was normal for a guy of his age.

"What are you going to do today Shinji?" Hana asked, her face having a tint of red from the embarrassing, yet exciting feeling of hugging her loved one with her nude body.

"Ah, I was going to buy some armor and make some weapons with the mithril I got from the golem." He replied, snapping out of the euphoria of skinship.

"How about some food first? I'll make you some pea soup and sandwiches." Hana suggested.

"Sure, I happen to like pea soup." Shinji replied, turning around and giving her a kiss on a cheek, because he was feeling bold and thankful.

"Hihi, thanks Shinji." Hana giggled, blushing from the kiss but also because she liked it.

Shinji leaned in and kissed Hana fully on the mouth, the young woman moaning as her lovers lips caressed her own. He pulled her around in front of him, sitting in his lap as he deepened the kiss. Hana moaned as she held onto him, his right hand traveling up her stomach and to the valley of her breasts. Hana was getting hotter by the second.

"Shinji..." she cooed as he caressed her skin.

"You're so beautiful, Hana-chan. I'm so honored to be your lover." he said to her.

"You're the first man I've ever been attracted to. Not like that bastard alchemist who tried to extort me." she said. "He tried to give me weak elixirs, that only numbed my condition, it didn't cure it. He was trying to make me dependent upon his concoctions. He tried to make me dependent upon him." she said sadly.

Shinji pulled her into a warm hug, holding her tight as he rubbed her back soothingly.

"I won't let him hurt you again, Hana-chan." he said as he kissed her cheek softly.

"Thank you, my champion." Hana whispered as she rubbed her sensitive body against her lover.

The pair made out for several more minutes, before getting dressed and heading down for breakfast.


	8. Feelings Of The Lancer

_**SHINJIS NEW LIFE  
**_ by Gunman and Reisfriend.

Disclaimer: We own nothing, not even our souls.

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Chapter 8  
 **Feelings Of The Lancer**

Shinji and Ayl had reached the area where the stamina recovering herbs were growing and Shinji was collecting them carefully, just how Ayl had shown him, since the herbs were rather delicate.

Along the way, Ayl had explained why the adventurers would think Shinji as a coward if he refused Tia's challenge. The reason was that if an adventurer didn't have the stomach to fight another human, then the challenged party didn't have what it took to be an adventurer, since sometimes adventurers had to fight other humans like bandits and kill them. An unspoken rule of a community that made little sense to Shinji.

"By the way Ayl, what is the deal with that Tia?" Shinji asked after he had picked up his 8th herb.

"What do you mean?" She asked as she kept watch.

"I mean that she doesn't even know me and we haven't even talked, yet she suddenly decides to challenge me. Has she done that before?" He clarified.

"Yes, she has. I have seen her challenging others and winning every time. But only male ones. If a woman challenged her, she accepted, but I haven't seen her challenge a woman before." Ayl answered.

"Why does she do it?" Shinji asked, now getting curious about the beautiful lancer.

"No one knows. She always says that she will give the reason if she loses, but since she hasn't, her reasons remain unknown." Ayl said.

"And I defeated her. So maybe she will tell us when we see her again." Shinji said.

"She might. After all, I am also curious about her reasons." Ayl said.

Shinji picked up the 9th herb and after placing it in the herb case Ayl had, they heard howling.

"Wolves?" Shinji asked, getting slightly scared since he didn't have a weapon and wolves had no metal on them.

"Afraid so. They have already surrounded us." Ayl said, drawing her sword. "Use my knives Shinji."

He did as she said and used his power to draw her knives from their sheaths. Ayl saw one of the wolves behind the tree.

"Silver Wolves! Don't let them bite you, they are poisonous." Ayl said.

Shinji saw two wolves come out from behind the trees and hurled the knives at them as fast as he could and killed them when the knives went through their heads.

Ayl used her power over wood to pull the roots of the trees from the ground and the roots squeezed three wolves until their bones were crushed.

Shinji nailed another wolf through the neck, but then they both saw about 30 wolves coming out and heading towards them.

"Shit. Get ready to climb up to a tree Shinji." Ayl said, cursing her bad luck.

Ayl had taught him that using fire magic in the forest was prohibited because the entire forest could burn down. Wind magic was basically useless against these wolves because their fur was thick enough to protect them from wind attacks. (That and wind magic had only weak attack spells) Earth magic was more difficult to control then any other magic and in a situation like this, using it was not an option. Light magic didn't have any attack spells that did damage to living beings.

BOOM! BOOM BOOM!

They heard explosions from the direction where the apparent leader of the wolf pack was and saw that it got blown up along with the wolves near it.

Seeing their pack leader blown up, the other wolves ran away.

"Who the..." Ayl started until she saw that one wolf was still coming at them, but then it was killed when a spear pierced it's neck.

Shinji stared in amazement at the accuracy that was needed for a throw like that. Then the owner of the trident spear jumped down from the tree.

"Tia. You followed us?" Ayl asked.

"Of course. The man who completely destroyed me was here so I followed him." Tia answered.

"Are you holding a grudge?" Shinji asked, making the knives go back to Ayl's sheaths.

"Of course not. I find you worthy, which is why I followed you." Tia answered, looking at Shinji.

"Worthy of what?" Shinji asked, wanting to hear her reason for the challenge. Ayl was also curious and wondered what she would say.

"To be my husband." Tia said bluntly.

"WHAT!? Your husband?" Shinji roared in surprise, involuntarily taking a step back when he heard that.

"I have challenged many men, hoping that one of them was able to defeat me and prove their worth as my future husband. You are the only one who succeeded. Which is why, I shall take you as my mate, Shinji Ikari." Tia answered with a serious face.

Shinji and Ayl just stared at the trident wielding adventurer for several seconds.

"This is quite sudden, and besides, it wasn't a fair fight because I used my power against you instead of fighting you with a weapon." Shinji protested.

"It matters not. One should use whatever means they have available to defeat the enemy as quickly as possible." Tia countered.

"Could we continue this conversation after we get back to the city? More wolves could be coming. Shinji, put the wolves in storage." Ayl interrupted them.

"She is right. We should get out of here quickly. I'll stand guard." Tia agreed and recovered her spear.

Shinji quickly stored the wolves and picked up the last herb and when he was done, the trio headed back towards the road, least the silver wolves return. Tia noticed his use of Darkness magic, something she had only heard of in recent years.

Once the trio were on the road, Shinji turned towards the quarter-vampire adventurer.

"Tia, what was that magic you used?" he asked.

"You mean the explosions? I charged my throwing knives with fire magic and they exploded on impact. I don't usually do that since buying new knives get's expensive after a while." She answered as they started walking towards the city.

"Well, thank you for helping us. I'll buy you a new set to repay you." Shinji offered.

"You don't have to. After all, I was saving my future husband." Tia retorted.

"But you don't even know me, Tia. Why would you want to marry someone you hardly even know?" Shinji said, though secretly he was happy that a hot woman like Tia was now after him.

"I don't intent to marry you right now." She said with a barely noticeable smile. "I find you worthy right now, but I will get to know you and if I find your character agreeable, then I will start to make it so that you will fall in love with me, and I will fall in love with you, if you are the kind of man I want. But if you are not the kind of man I want, then I won't have anything to do with you again." Tia answered.

Tia's explanation of the whole thing sounded like a science project to Shinji.

Ayl was looking at Shinji with an amused expression.

"Well Tia, since you're going to get to know Shinji, would you join my party? You could then spend a lot of time together." Ayl suggested.

"Hmm. A good idea. I will join your party." Tia replied immediately.

At first Shinji wanted to protest, but after seeing Tia's skills and power, he thought that having her with them would only increase their odds of success in missions, especially when killing monsters was needed.

"Are you two friends?" Shinji asked.

"Not exactly. We have done two missions together in the past, but other then that, we haven't talked." Ayl answered.

"Well then, maybe we should get to know each other better." Shinji said.

"Agreed. Tell me about yourself Shinji. Where are you from?" Tia said, eager to hear his story.

Shinji told Tia the story Lianna suggested, which made her look sad because her future husband had such a tragic series of events in his life, which made her want to comfort him. When Shinji told Tia how he cured Hana and she became his lover, Tia was amazed. She got the answer to the question who healed her after she was injured in her fight against Shinji. And Tia wasn't upset about the fact that Hana was his lover because she found it rather convenient that he already had another woman who could provide him comfort and friendship when Tia was away. And Tia also liked Hana because she enjoyed her cooking and Hana was the kind of person you want to be friends with.

Tia's story was that she is a daughter of a human father and a half-vampire mother. Her mother was born from a human mistress of a vampire noble, who cast her out of his house with a retirement fund. Her mother became an adventurer when she grew up and met her husband in a fishing village where she killed several water hags that preyed on the fishermen.

Tia's mother was injured by the last water hag and would have died if the man she later married hadn't saved her. They moved out of the village to a farming village where Tia's mother was now an alchemist and Tia's father is a farmer now. Tia's mother told her the story on how she met Tia's father and suggested a couple of things on how to go about 'husband hunting' and one of the things was finding a man who can defeat her in battle. Apparently Tia's mother was quite popular when she was an adventurer and well sought after by many. Tia's father wasn't a fighter, but Tia's mother wasn't looking for a fighter, she was looking for a man who loves her because of her, not because she is beautiful or powerful or rich.

Tia's mother had trained Tia on how to use weapons, magic and survival skills needed to be an adventurer and was very reluctant to let her daughter go when it was time, but Tia's mother wanted grandkids and there weren't any good men that she approved of in the village where they lived, so she bid farewell to Tia and wished her good luck in her travels.

Tia had been an adventurer for 5 years now and thanks to her vampire heritage, which gave her better physical abilities then humans, she had risen in rank relatively fast and was now a B-rank, which made her a well sought after party member, but she refused them all because she didn't find most men desirable. And when Shinji asked her about her hair color, she answered that some blood of the man-eating plants she exterminated sprayed on her and it took some time to clean it off.

And when she had heard about how Ayl and her new partner had destroyed a mithril golem and a pack of goblins, especially the part how the said new partner destroyed the golem, she got curious and wondered if that man would be good husband material, so she decided to challenge him.

Shinji found Tia's story quite epic, which made him a bit jealous. Not only was she beautiful, she was also quite talented. Another beauty who wouldn't even look at him in his previous world and would have been very popular, was now evaluating him as her potential husband.

 _'I wonder if this is what Lianna meant when she said that Goddess of Love was plotting an event for me?'_ He thought.

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In the Gods Realm, Lianna and the Goddess of Love snickered at his spot-on deduction.

' _I wonder if I should tell him about the other surprise in his future?'_ she wondered.

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Reaching the city, they headed to the Guild headquarters. Shinji silently admired how Tia didn't seem to be tired despite walking around in an armor like that, but then again, she was partly vampire and she had traveled a lot in that getup.

Once the trio had returned to the Guild, Shinji went to report that the herb gathering quest was completed to Sharis, while Ayl registered Tia as her party member to Krulcifer. Shinji received his reward and then went to Bolgan to get the wolf bodies appraised, which earned him 4 gold coins, mostly since they were so mangled thanks to explosions.

"If you could get me a live one, I have a friend who knows someone who enjoys studying beasts like that." Bolgan said.

"Uh... right. I'll... look into that." Shinji said nervously, wondering how trapping and transporting something like that safely would be possible.

Shinji gave 2 gold coins to Tia because she killed most of them and so she could buy new knives and 1 coin to Ayl because she killed some too.

"Now that all this business is done, how about some food?" Ayl asked.

"I am getting pretty hungry now. Do you know what Hana is cooking today?" Tia asked.

"No idea. But whatever it is, it has to be good because Hana is so good at cooking." Shinji replied to her question as they were getting closer to the inn.

The trio entered the Inn, seeing only a couple of people sitting and drinking off to the side.

"SHINJI!" Hana shouted as soon as she saw her lover.

"Hana!" Shinji smiled as the beautiful young woman wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him quickly.

"I missed you." Hana said.

"I wasn't gone that long." He said as he held her.

The couple of customers who were there just glared daggers at the young champion getting kisses from the lovely Inn cook and manager.

"True, but without you here, it get's rather lonely." Hana retorted.

"Lunch for three, Hana. Unless you wanna join us." Ayl said.

"Coming right up." Hana said with a smile and went to preform her task.

"So, how did you two meet?" Shinji asked as the trio sat down at a table.

"We were working on two different quests. I was attempting to rescue a captured woman from a group of goblins, while Tia was hired to kill the goblin leader, since his band of goblins were raiding villages in the area." Ayl said.

"We met outside the goblins kings lair. Ayl was successful in rescuing the kidnapped woman, and I killed the goblin king. It was a heck of a fight to get out, wasn't it?" Tia continued.

"It was." Ayl said with a laugh.

"Am I missing something?" Shinji asked.

"Well, it happened like this..." Ayl said and told him the story of how they escaped as Hana emerged from the kitchen.

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The man known as Warnock the pharmacist was sitting in a disreputable tavern talking to some shady looking men.

"So, what do you need?" The first man asked.

"We have done business in the past. I was hoping we could do some more." Warnock said

"Ya need something lifted, or someone taken care of?" The first man asked.

"Taken care of." Warnock replied.

"Okay. Who?" the first man asked.

"He is Hana's new lover." he said.

"You mean the woman you have been obsessing over has a lover now?" The second man asked.

"And you want us to take care of him because you are jealous? " The third man asked and started laughing with his buddies.

Warnock angrily glared at the thugs for laughing at him. They weren't wrong about his motives though.

"For something like this, you'll have to pay extra since things like this are usually a waste of time." The first man said.

Warnock slammed a bag of coins on the table.

"Just rough him up and tell him to stay away from Hana." he said to the men.

"Where is he?" The first man asked.

"And what does he look like?" the second man asked.

"He's staying at the Silver Eagle inn where Hana works." Warnock answered and gave a description of Shinji.

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"And before those goblins could swarm us, we managed to escape to the sunlight." Tia finished the story they told Shinji.

"Wow. That was amazing." Shinji said, thoroughly impressed by their adventure.

Throughout the story, they had eaten the sandwich set, boiled eggs and palm sized bear meat steaks Hana had prepared and had some fresh cold water made by Shinji's magic, which was addictive to Tia.

"It was quite an adventure. Though it would have been easier if you had been there Shinji." Ayl commented.

"How so?" Shinji asked.

"You could have used your power to yank their weapons away and kill all of them in seconds." Ayl said.

"His power? What kind of power do you have Shinji?" Tia asked them, causing Shinji to look at Ayl.

"It's alright to tell her Shinji." Ayl said.

"I have the full blessings of the Goddess of Healing and the God of Metal. I can manipulate any metal how I want and I can heal anything." Shinji told the lancer.

Tia just looked at her potential husband with a wide eyed amazed expression. The only other person with a blessing she had met was Ayl and she had heard many stories about people with blessings from the Gods, but this was the first time she had never even heard about anyone with _two_ blessings or even _full_ blessings.

THUMP

"TIA!" Shinji shouted when she collapsed on the floor. Ayl also got worried and kneeled to examine her.

"Is she alright?" Hana asked.

"She just passed out." Ayl said.

"But why?" Shinji asked, confused why the composed lancer just fainted.

"Seems like the shock of learning the extent of your powers was too much for her. Carry her to my room." Ayl said.

Shinji did as told and carried the lancer to Ayl's room where he set her on the bed. Easy since he was mostly levitating her armor. He took a moment to look at her 'sleeping face' and found that she was even prettier like this.

"Looks like she won't wake up soon. Let's go to see Gallus." Ayl said.

"And we just leave her here like this?" Shinji asked.

"She is not in danger here. And you need weapons so you can fight off monsters like the wolves we encountered." Ayl said, matter-of-factly.

"Right." Shinji said and followed Ayl.

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(The Dark Forest, to the West of Ithalan)

Within a tall, limestone tower in the middle of the forest, next to a swamp, in an elaborate room that was decorated in spider-webs, strange occult items, animal skulls, and strange books on a shelf, a dark robed figure stood over a bubbling cauldron.

"Bubble, bubble, cauldron my sweet, show to me the one who I seek." the raspy voice said.

The cauldron hissed and glowed before the smoke cleared and showed her an image.

The image was of a young man with short brown hair and blue eyes. He did not look like a regular member of the Ithalan kingdom, but something else.

"Hmm. Could this be the one I seek? He seems young. Not that I am complaining."

The woman then took a piece of parchment and waved her hand, an orange and yellow flame danced on the paper and sketched the young mans likeness. A perfect likeness.

"Now... who are you, my young man?" she asked.

She continued to watch the images in the cauldron as the young man fought bandits, and goblins, and golems, and even silver wolves. He seemed to have a strange power, commanding the weapons of others, and she saw him heal a werebear, which shocked her immensely.

"He has healing powers, and can control weapons of metal? Or just metal? Hmm. I must know more about this young man."

It was then that the cauldron showed her something she did not expect.

The young man she sought was standing next to, and working with, a certain elf maiden.

"Ayl!" she hissed. "Oh... this makes him even more attractive to me."

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Authors Notes:

Well, here is the 8th Chapter, and so far, Shinji has two unique and lovely ladies vying for his affections. And they don't seem to be jealous of each other.

And this sorceress that is going after Shinji wants him for a very specific reason. That will be explained, maybe in the next chapter.

I am planning to add more creatures and monsters into the story later, and I am planning to have the werebear from the earlier chapters returning.

As for Warnock the pharmacist, I kinda modeled him after Tim Curry's character, Farley Claymore, from The Shadow. A creepy yet talented man whom many people don't really like, and someone whom Hana would not want to associate with. Or be in a relationship with.

Please, read and review, because I really want to know what people think.


	9. Weapon Production and First Time

**_SHINJIS NEW LIFE  
_** by Gunman & Reisfriend

Disclaimer: We own nothing.

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Chapter 9  
 **Weapon Production and Being A Lover**

Shinji and Ayl were walking towards the blacksmiths forge where Shinji had done some of his training. Shinji kept thinking what kind of weapon he should make or if Gallus had something he would be willing to trade for the mithril Shinji had in storage.

"So Shinji, have you thought about a weapon you want?" Ayl asked.

"Well, nothing specific, but something one-handed and light, yet durable and sharp. Maybe with a curved blade." Shinji said, trying to specify a weapon he could use with his powers, thinking about the prog knife his Eva had.

"Hmm, let's see what kind of weapons Gallus has in stock. If he doesn't have anything you could use or want, you can just make one with the mithril." Ayl said.

Shinji nodded for that and they continued towards the forge.

When they arrived at the blacksmith shop, they saw a young man leaving the store with a short sword in hand. Entering the store, Gallus the dwarf greeted Ayl.

"Ahh Ayl, hopefully you came to buy something." The dwarf said.

"Yes, that is my intention. Or rather, it's Shinji's intention." Ayl replied.

"His money will do just fine." Gallus said with a laugh.

Shinji was looking at the wall next to the door where several swords were on display. All of them looked impressive, but too big for him to carry.

"Are you looking for something smaller? Lightweight, perhaps?" Gallus asked Shinji. Truthfully, when Gallus had seen Shinji's metal powers, he was quite jealous. With a power like that, Gallus could have been the best blacksmith in history.

"Yes. And if possible, it should be sharp and durable, and maybe with a curved blade." Shinji answered.

Gallus seemed to be thinking about something. "Curved, eh? I might have just the thing. Well, almost."

The dwarf pulled out a scroll from beneath the counter and opened it.

"This is something I designed for an adventurer who specialized in stealth and close combat. Unfortunately, he died before I could start working on them. But for you and your powers, these would be the perfect weapon." Gallus said and showed Shinji the curved one-handed blade drawn on the paper.

To Shinji, the weapon looked like the Ulak blade from the 'Chronicles of Riddick'.

Ayl also looked at the drawing. "Wow, that weapon looks quite beautiful and deadly. You should get it Shinji." She said in an excited manner.

"But we would have to make these, right?" Shinji asked, realizing the obvious.

"Yes, but the material I intented to use was mithril, which is quite expensive. And it would take at least a week for the material to arrive." Gallus said.

"The material is not a problem. How much would you need?" Ayl said.

"I would need about 1 kilogram for both blades. Do you have mithril?" Gallus answered.

"Show him, Shinji." Ayl said and Shinji opened his Darkness storage and pulled out a big chunk of mithril.

Gallus stared at the mithril in shock before turning to Shinji.

"Where did you get this?" he asked.

"We got it from the mithril golem that the goblins used to take over the salt mine." Ayl explained. "Can you make the weapons with this?" she asked.

"I could make 20 blades with this. And this would be faster if both of you helped me with the forging." Gallus answered.

"Really? How would we help?" Ayl asked.

"You and me will heat the forge with our fire magic. For mithril, the fires have to be as hot as magma and Shinji will use his power to handle the mithril and pour it to the mold I have for the blades. When the metal cools for a bit, I can temper and sharpen it." Gallus answered.

"This could be fun." Ayl thought out loud.

"Let's do it." Shinji said, getting pumped for this. Making knives from steel and iron was fun but he hoped to make something with better material.

"This will take a while, so I have to close the shop now. I ask 5 gold and 3kg of mithril as compensation." Gallus said his price.

"You drive a hard bargain Gallus, but it's a deal." Ayl replied, thinking that the price was cheaper then she expected.

Shinji still had nearly a quarter ton of mithril left.

"Let's get started then." Gallus said and lead them to his forge. Shinji levitated the mithril to the table where Gallus used a hammer and chisel to chip off enough mithril for the blades.

The tools Gallus used in his work were made from orichalcum, which was harder then mithril and the tools in question were made by one of his ancestors, so they were heirlooms so to speak, so he used them for the hardest materials only.

Once he had the chunks needed, he loaded the forge with ember rocks, which were similar to coal from his world, except they burned longer and hotter then coal. After the forge was ready, he pulled out the molds for the weapons.

"Now then Shinji, listen carefully. You levitate the chunks over the fire as Ayl and I make the flames to melt the mithril and when I say, pour the melted mithril in the molds." Gallus said.

"Got it." Shinji said and levitated the chunks over to the forge.

"Alright then Ayl, are you ready?" Gallus asked.

"As ready as I can be." She answered.

"Then let's start." Gallus said and charged his fire magic with Ayl and soon they were both heating the ember rocks, which made the heat in the workshop rise.

Over 30 minutes had passed and the trio was sweating like crazy, though Gallus didn't seem bothered. He looked more like he was enjoying himself while Ayl was looking tired. Shinji was barely hanging on, since he wasn't used to heat like this.

"Now, Shinji." Gallus said as the mithril shards had melted and Shinji quickly levitated them to the molds where they filled out the identations.

Gallus and Ayl snuffed out the flames, much to her relief.

"Now then. That takes care of the easy part." Gallus said.

"The _easy_ part?" Shinji asked.

"The real work starts now, shaping and sharpening the metal, but I can handle it alone for now. Working on mithril is difficult and the processing technique is only showed to the apprentice. So I'm afraid that you can't help any further in this." Gallus said.

Shinji was a bit disheartened about that, but Ayl had mentioned that dwarfes were tight-lipped about their forging techniques, so he would let it go.

"Very well then. Shall we come back tomorrow?" Shinji asked.

"Yes, I will have the blades ready by tomorrow, sometime after noon. I will also make you sheaths for them." Gallus said.

"Thank you." Shinji said politely.

"Would you have any knives for Shinji?" Ayl asked.

"You mean a knife for cutting monster parts?" Gallus asked.

"That and a regular knife for combat." Ayl answered.

He thought about it for a second before he answered.

"Yes, I have something that would suit him." Gallus said as he stepped away from the forge.

"You're just going to leave those unattended?" Shinji asked, pointing at his mithril commissions.

"They have to cool down for a bit." Gallus said bluntly and went to the shop with Ayl and Shinji following.

From behind the counter, Gallus pulled out 2 knives still in their sheaths. The first one looked like the standard hunting knife that adventurers carried and used to cut off monster parts. The other knife looked like something out of a game Shinji had played back in his world, but he thought that it looked cool.

Shinji drew the hunting knife to look it over.

"Brightsteel?" Ayl asked.

"Of course." Gallus said proudly.

Shinji gave her an inquisitive look.

"Brightsteel is a good conductor of mana, and very durable. It amplifies magic when one channels their mana into the blade through the grip and gives the blade an elemental effect, depending on what magic one channels into it." she explained.

"Such as?" Shinji asked.

"Well, if you charge them with fire energy, like I possess, when you throw it at something it'll cause the object to explode but the blade will not be destroyed. At least... not at first." Ayl said.

"At first?" he asked.

"All metals have their limits, even Brightsteel. Use it too much, and it will dull and wear out. Even with mana-conductivity. They could even be destroyed. A couple hundred times, at best."

Shinji looked at the blades, realizing that it was probably true. Sheathing the knife, Shinji picked up the other one and looked it over, noticing that the knife was smaller, but double-sided, with serrated edges, blade was made from steel, copper and that worlds equivalent of chromium, for increased durability and corrosion resistance.

"These look like fine blades Gallus. What do you think Ayl?" Shinji commented.

"Indeed they are. They would come in handy when we head out to another quest eventually. So how much for them?" Ayl asked.

"3 gold coins." Gallus said and Shinji paid him, seeing the price was fair.

"Thank you again Gallus. I will come by tomorrow for my mithril blades." Shinji said

"I should have them done sometime after lunch." Gallus said.

Shinji and Ayl nodded and left Gallus to work on the blades.

"Now then Shinji, is there some kind of quest that you would like to take now that you have weapons?" Ayl asked.

"I haven't thought about it. And I don't know what quests are available at the moment. So how about we go see tomorrow after we pick up my mithril blades?" Shinji replied.

"Sure. So how about if I show you around the city for a bit since there is still time before dinner?" Ayl asked.

"I have been wanting to see the city so let's do that." Shinji answered, getting pumped again, since he didn't get to see much of the city before since he was busy training.

For the next few hours the pair walked around, passing by several people who greeted Ayl. She showed Shinji an alchemy shop where she sometimes bought potions before she headed out to a quest, but now she probably didn't have to since now she had Shinji, who could heal anything. Shinji felt a little bad for the owner of the shop, since now he lost a regular customer.

Ayl then lead Shinji to the market where several stalls were selling cheap jewelry, foods, imported drinks and leaves for pipes, cheap weapons, training weapons and gear, even a painter from the demon race who could paint ones portrait in a minute with his Darkness magic.

It was Shinji's first time seeing an actual demon. Ayl had told him that demons looked like humans with the exception of a birthmark somewhere in their bodies (which looked like a tattoo to Shinji when he saw the mark on the painters face) and they were physically slightly less weaker then humans. Ayl also said that Darkness magic was more common in demons while light magic was rare in them.

Shinji bought Hana a silver bracelet, thinking that it would look good on her, and he didn't have to worry about size since jewelry was always imbued with magic to change size to fit the wearer. Another convenience that his world lacked.

Since it was almost dinner time, Ayl wanted to get back to the inn but she promised that she would show him around the Nobles District when they had free time again.

"Shinji, would you be interested in visiting my forest?" Ayl asked.

"Your forest?" Shinji asked.

"The forest where I grew up. I visit my parents once a year to see how they are doing and set my fathers mind at ease by letting him know I'm doing fine." She explained.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just write them?" Shinji asked.

"It would be, but if I don't visit my parents, they will just come here and if that happens, then it would be difficult to get my father to leave, since he still has a hard time accepting that his only daughter is not at home." She replied with a hint of red on her face.

Shinji smirked. His highly experienced mentor had an overprotective father.

WHACK

"UNGH!" Ayl groaned before she fell down, unconscious.

"AYL!" He shouted before he was pushed against the wall.

Shinji looked at the assailant and saw a typical ruffian face one saw in fantasy mangas. He also saw two other men behind his assailant, standing over Ayl.

"So you're Hana's lover. You don't look like much." The man said.

"What do you want?" Shinji asked, getting ready to crush the mans leg with his power, since the man had iron greaves on his legs.

"Just one very simple thing. You stay away from Hana and never speak to her again." The man answered.

"Why the hell do you care who she talks to?" Shinji asked, only to get smacked in the face, which stung like hell.

"You don't ask questions, boy! So what is your answer? Will you stay away from her or do we have to break bones?!" The man shouted.

WHACK CRUNCH!

The man holding Shinji turned to look, only to see a silver haired woman in silver colored armor and his buddies knocked out.

"Tia!" Shinji shouted and pushed the man with his power towards her, to which she reacted immediately and swept the mans legs from under him, which made him fall down on his back and Tia pressed the mans shoulder with her armored boot.

"Who hired you?" Tia asked.

The ruffian just looked at Tia with a scornful face. She pressed his shoulder a bit harder and then moved her leg to his hand and started pressing his fingers against the brick road.

"Who hired you?" She asked, pressing and grinding his fingers harder.

"AAAHHHHH! WARNOCK!" The ruffian finally answered.

"Thank you." Tia said before kicking him in the face, knocking him out.

Shinji looked at the other two men and saw that the other had a broken nose and the other had a huge bruise on the back of his head. Tia did quite a number on them in a short while.

"Thanks Tia, your timing was impeccable." Shinji said to the lancer.

"You're welcome Shinji. I saw how they attacked you through the window, so I rushed to help you." She replied.

"You were waiting for us?" Shinji asked as he healed the bump on Ayl's head and picked her up, which was easy since she didn't have armor on and she was quite light, which was a common thing for elves.

"Of course. Let's get inside and I'll tell you why I passed out on you." Tia said as they started walking to the inn, which was only half a block away.

They managed to get to Ayl's room without anyone noticing and when Ayl's was placed on the bed, Shinji turned to the quarter-vampire adventurer.

"She should be fine." Shinji said as he gave his partner another appraise to make sure she was alright. "So Tia, why did you pass out earlier?"

"Well, this might sound silly, but the reason I passed out is because you told me the extend of your power." She said.

"But there's more to it than that, isn't there?" Shinji asked.

"Yes. I have heard stories about people with blessings from the Gods and Ayl is the only blessed one I have ever met. She has told me about the ones she has met, but the blessing you have in truly extraordinary." Tia continued.

"Because I have two full blessings?" Shinji asked.

"Yes. Ayl told me that she has never met or even heard about anyone who had a full blessing yet alone two. That is what makes you truly exceptional. Legends tell that only those who have a truly good heart are the only ones worthy of such gifts." She explained.

"And you were overwhelmed that you met someone like me?" Shinji asked.

"Yes, which is why I have decided that you are truly worthy of being my husband." Tia said.

Shinji made a shocked face, blushing a little. "But weren't you just evaluating me?"

"There is no need to evaluate anymore because even the Gods think that you are truly worthy. If the Gods deem you as a good person, then I will take you as my husband." Tia said, grabbing his hand.

Shinji just looked at her face, which had turned into a beautiful smile. _'Why is she even more beautiful when she smiles like that?!'_

"But of course, we will spend more time getting to know each other. I am sure that you will fall in love with me, as I am already starting to love you." Tia said, getting closer and wrapping her other arm around his neck.

"Fufu. You're quite a charmer Shinji." Ayl spoke, which made Tia and Shinji turn to look at her.

"Are you alright, Ayl?" Shinji asked.

"Just embarrassed. I let my guard down. What happened?" She replied.

Shinji explained the situation to her after she had gotten knocked out.

"That bastard. I will report this tomorrow." Ayl said as her stomach growled.

"I will go with you." Tia said.

"Thanks. Having a witness will help put that shitface away. Shinji, you stay with Hana in case that asshat comes here." Ayl cursed.

"Of course. I will keep her safe." Shinji said.

"Good, but let's eat for now." Ayl said and got up.

They headed to the entrance hall and had a hearty meal with Hana, whose shift ended when she finished cooking. Hana was shocked to hear that her unwanted suitor had caused something horrible to happen to her friends and thanked Tia for helping them, to which Tia replied that she was also protecting her future husband, not just her new friend.

When Hana heard that Tia called Shinji as her future husband, she politely asked Shinji to come to her room once again.

Hana was sitting on her bed while Shinji was sitting on the chair.

"Shinji, is it true that Tia is intending to marry you?" Hana asked with a slightly worried look.

"Well, she says that she has every intention to marry me but right now she wants to spend time with me to get me to fall in love with her." He replied.

"Why?" Hana asked.

"She challenged me to a duel earlier today and I defeated her. After she helped us to fend off the silver wolves, she explained that her mother taught her how to go about 'husband hunting' and she thinks I'm worthy because not only did I defeat her, she says that even the Gods think that I'm a good person because I have two full blessings, which is unheard of. Tia wants a good person as her husband and she finds me as such." Shinji explained, though he wondered what Tia and Ayl would say if he told them that Lianna told him that he was there for the Gods entertainment, mostly.

"I see. But I'm not upset with you Shinji. I'm actually glad, if just a little worried." Hana said.

"Huh? Why?" Shinji asked.

"When you go on adventures, there is a chance that you might die, even with your powers. But if there are more people with you, then your chances of survival are even better. I'm just worried that you will stop being my lover in favor of Tia, since you will be spending a lot of time with her." Hana explained.

"NO! I won't leave you Hana. You are an important friend to me and I really like you. To me, friends are like treasures and I won't toss them away or leave them." Shinji assured her, almost frantically.

Hana looked relieved by his assurance. Before she could say anything, Shinji took out the silver bracelet he had in his Darkness pocket and wrapped it around Hana's wrist. The older girl smiled as she examined the bracelet, touched that her lover had gotten her something so beautiful. She stood up and pulled him into a kiss. Shinji kissed her back and she sat on his lap, the pair started making out once again. They both moaned into the kiss and enjoyed the pleasure they felt when their tongues kept grinding against each other.

"Let's move to bed." Hana said when she ended the kiss.

Shinji nodded and they moved to the bed after taking their shirts off. At first Shinji was beneath Hana, who moved slightly to grind her breasts against his chest, sending jolts of pleasure through both of them. Hana could feel herself getting wet and Shinji's pants started to feel tighter when he got hard.

Suddenly Shinji flipped them over so Hana was now beneath him. "Shinji?"

"Hana, let me pleasure you." Shinji said, looking into her eyes and her face had turned red from excitement.

"Please do." She said and spread her arms, giving him access to her breasts.

Shinji swallowed as he moved his mouth towards her left breast and he thought his heart was about to explode yet again, since it was pounding like a jackhammer.

"AH!" Hana cried out in pleasure when Shinji started suckling her nipple while fondling the other breast.

' _Hopefully those ero-mangas weren't for nothing._ ' Shinji thought, using things from the erotic mangas his friends had loaned him back in his world.

But the way how Hana was twitching and gripping the sheets, as well as moaning in pleasure, he thought he was doing fine.

"UAH! Shinji.. more... AH!" Hana managed to cry out.

He stopped what he was doing to her breasts and looked into her face.

"I...I want more Shinji. I can't hold back anymore." She panted with a flushed face.

"But.." Shinji started but was interrupted.

"Use your Darkness Magic to cast Contraceptive. It prevents pregnancy." Hana said.

"Are you sure?" Shinji asked, unaware that Darkness Magic could do that.

"I am. And I can't wait anymore. Make love to me." Hana pleaded, looking flushed and desirable.

' _AAHH! Making a face like that is unfair!_ ' He thought when Hana made a pleading face, which made him want to do anything for her. ' _But how do I do this? Maybe... just focus on what I want to do, and hopefully the Darkness magic will take care of it._ '

Doing as she said and casting Contraceptive on both of them, they didn't feel any different. Shinji nervously started to pull down Hana's pants, while she watched him with an embarrassed face but she didn't want to stop.

With her pants removed, he undid her panties strings and she was completely naked. Hana could feel her heart beating even faster, the excitement and embarrassment stimulating her.

Shinji started to remove his pants, quite nervous that his first time would be with a big boobed beauty who was 3 years older then him. He was worried he wouldn't be able to please her, but thanks to Lianna telling him that women were more sensitive in this world gave him confidence that he could pleasure her.

Removing his remaining clothes, Hana looked at Shinji's dick, the first one she had ever seen.

"You're bigger then I thought Shinji." Hana said to him.

"Is it a problem?" Shinji asked, hoping that she would say no.

"Not at all. I think it's quite marvelous." She complimented, which was completely unexpected to him, but he was happy that she praised it.

"Open your legs a bit more Hana." Shinji told her and she did so.

He stared at her hairless womanhood for 2 seconds, admiring the lovely shade of pink she had and scooted closer to put it in.

"I'm going to put it in now Hana, so relax. If it hurts, say so and I will stop." Shinji said and aimed his dick in her pussy.

Hana waited patiently and soon she felt his hard dick entering her slowly. She gritted her teeth and threw her head back from the wave of pleasure that enveloped her.

"UWAAAAAHH!" She screamed when he was fully inside her. Her hips twitched madly from the pleasure.

Shinji also gritted his teeth because of the pleasure. It was so hot and soft inside Hana that he thought that he would cum right away.

' _NO! I can't cum just yet, that would be so embarrassing. I have to pleasure her first._ ' He thought and started moving slowly at first.

"AAH! AAH!" Hana moaned when she felt him moving, increasing the pleasure even further.

Shinji also kept moaning from the pleasure. He had imagined many times how his first time would be but this certainly wasn't one of those scenarios. Having sex for the first time in a fantasy world with a beautiful woman, three years his senior, had never even crossed his mind.

After almost 2 minutes of moving slowly, he increased the pace, which only increased the pleasure that was rapidly becoming unbearably good for the both of them.

"S-SHINJI! AH! YES!" Hana moaned as her arms and legs wrapped tightly around her lover.

He thought that if he lost focus for even a nanosecond, he would cum first. But he wasn't going to let that happen before she came. So he kept moving in a fast, steady rhythm, hoping that she cums soon.

Almost 10 minutes had passed and their moans hadn't stopped even for a second. Except that Hana sometimes managed to get a few words out.

"IT'S SO GOOD! AH! DON'T STOP SHINJI!" She said again, enjoying the pleasure.

' _Shit! I will cum at this rate. Please cum already Hana!_ ' He thought, getting desperate that she hasn't cum yet and he didn't want to cum first.

Luckily for him, Hana suddenly screamed: "I'M CU..AAA!"

Her pussy squeezed his dick hard when she came, which felt unbelievably good for him and he came inside her. "AAHHH!"

Before Shinji collapsed next to her, he managed to pull out from her and they both panted in the afterglow of their first orgasm.

"That... was amazing Shinji." Hana wheezed at him as she lost consciousness.

"It was." Shinji replied and passed out along with Hana.

About an hour later, Ayl peeked into the room and saw her apprentice and Hana lying next to each other, naked.

' _Damn Shinji. You sure did a number on her._ ' She thought as she pulled the blanket over them, which was right as Hana, in her sleep, rolled on to her side, wrapping her arms around Shinji in a hug. ' _Huh, almost woke her up._ ' Ayl thought, leaving the room quietly and closing the door.

Walking back to her room and laying down on the bed, she kept thinking that her growing urges would be too much for her to ignore, or suppress, since it was that time of the year once again. She also wondered if she should ask Shinji to take care of her urges for her, but then again, she thought that he might be too big for her, since elves had smaller reproductive organs then human.

Unfortunately, thinking of her and Shinji having sex was not helping to suppress those urges.

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(Elsewhere)

Lilia Kranjcar, a bow wielding adventurer from the Ithalan guild was currently walking through the Dark Forest, looking for any signs or tracks left by the hunters who had gone missing in the past week.

It had been 4 days ago when she accepted the job of finding the lost hunters, but so far she hadn't found any signs or tracks belonging to them.

Aside from three lone black wolves who tried to make a meal out of her, she hadn't seen any other living creatures. And trekking through the forest was getting tiresome.

' _Where could they have disappeared?_ ' She wondered, frustrated because of the lack of results.

Then she noticed an arrow lodged into a tree about 20 meters away from her and she rushed over to it, looking at the ground for tracks.

Seeing tracks belonging to a white deer, she went to the place where the arrow was shot from and found tracks belonging to one of the hunter, she followed them to a clearing where she saw a limestone tower.

' _What the hell?_ ' She thought, wondering why she hadn't seen the tower before. Walking towards the tower, she didn't notice mist on the ground following her from behind.

Feeling magical pressure from behind her she turned around swiftly and in the same time drew her bow and managed to fire, only for the arrow to 'miss' as it went right through the creature.

It was then she got a good look at the monster in front of her. About 5 meters tall, the monster was a ghostly-looking woman made from smoke and mist. She got terrified.

' _No_...' She managed to think before the creature suddenly moved towards her and enveloped her inside it's body and then vanished.

In the tower, the occupant smiled at her success. ' _Fufufu. Nice work once again my mist creature. Even Ayl can't defeat these things. Now if only she just came over here with that youngster, I could have some fun._ '

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Authors Notes:

From Reisfriend: Here's a list of characters that are picked up from mangas to this story, if you are wondering who they are. The multi-crossover only means that there are many characters from other mangas.

Hana (real name Hanahana), Tia and Lilia are from Parallel Paradise.

Sharis and Krulcifer are from Saijaku Muhai No Bahamut.

Juna Doma and the wolf girl who was with her are from Genjitsushugisha no Oukokukaizouki.

And Ayl's appearance is taken from the elf Deeto from Boku no Heya ga Dungeon no Kyuukeijo ni Natteshimatta ken.

The other named characters are OC's who won't make many appearances, since they are background characters.

Once again, please read and review and let me know what you think.

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(Potential Future Scene)

"AAAAAHHHHH!" Bron Boraxe shouted as he swung his double-bladed axe, slicing the head off of the giant Swamp Serpent and dropping both it and the large snake body into the swamp. "Ugh!" he grumbled as he spat the swamp water out of his mouth. "Mission... completed."

He grumbled as he stepped out of the swamp, only because it was more disgusting than he thought it was going to be. His body was covered in muck, mud and bluish blood from the Swamp Serpent he had just killed. It had taken him weeks to track down the damned thing, but it was now dead. He'd make a lot of coin once he got back to the Guild.

The half-human dwarf realized he might have to stop off at his Uncle's blacksmith shop and get his axe sharpened.

But as he exited the swamp with the large serpents head, his mind started wandering back to a very simple and depressing fact: How lonely the mission had been. He missed his old teammates in the Blade Brigade. They had been the best, but after they had all been killed a year ago battling that evil warlord and his legion of minions, Bron had basically been on his own.

He had refused to join any other team since his loss, but he had to admit that it would have been a lot less trouble if he had had some kind of back-up. A tracker would have been useful in finding that serpent sooner, and a magic user to defend against the beasts attack would have been appreciated. A ranger and a druid and maybe even another fighter would have made taking down that Serpent far easier. But so far, there hadn't been any really unique adventurers at the Guild.

Bron sighed as he dragged the serpent head back to Ithalan.


	10. New Adventure

_**SHINIJ'S NEW LIFE  
**_ By Gunman & Reisfriend

Disclaimer: Nothing is owned by us.

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Chapter 10  
 **New Adventure**

Waking up from a pleasant dream, which he couldn't remember clearly, Shinji saw Hana's sleeping face and felt her naked body pressed up against him, her legs entangled around his own.

The memories of yesterday evening came flooding into his mind. He had sex for the first time and managed to make Hana cum before he did, though it was a close call.

The face Hana was making while she was in the waves of pleasure was something that looked unreal and he thought that she would have gone crazy if their session had lasted any longer. He blushed, hoping that Hana didn't remember what kind of face he was making when he was in pleasure.

' _Hopefully I wasn't making any weird or embarrassing faces when I did her_.' He thought, trying to shake the thought of him making a weird face when he was having sex with a beauty like Hana.

But then he thought that Lianna might have been watching, along with the Goddess of Love, despite telling him that she wouldn't look. ' _If you were watching, erase that memory right now Lianna_!' He shouted in his mind.

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In the God's Realm, both the Goddess of Love and Lianna, the Goddess of Healing, burst out laughing at his embarrassed thought.

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He looked at Hana's face again, thinking how amazing she was. Despite all the harsh things she had to endure, she was bright, upbeat and friendly and not depressed and suicidal. And now that she was healed, she boldly came on to him and confessed how she wanted to be his lover and now they did it and climaxed together. Shinji thought that he would never meet anyone like her, feeling quite happy that he cured her and accepted her feelings, though he did feel bad that he wouldn't be spending as much time with her as he wanted, since he was going to travel with Ayl and Tia and do quests.

His train of thoughts was interrupted when she opened her eyes and smiled.

"Good morning Shinji." She said to him.

"Good morning Hana." Shinji replied before she kissed him.

"Last night was amazing Shinji. Thank you." She said once she ended the kiss.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it Hana. I also enjoyed making love to you." He replied.

"I never thought that I would experience this kind of happiness before you arrived. I have always dreamed of someone coming to save me and make me happy." Hana said with a blush and a beautiful smile. "Someone like you."

Shinji looked at her pretty face with a hint of red on his face. "And I never thought that I would meet anyone like you Hana. After spending this much time with you, it makes me want you even more."

Hana kissed him again as she moved on top of him and interlaced her fingers with his, holding his hands down on the bed. Shinji felt how she was trying to get her tongue as deep into his mouth as possible.

Before he ran out of air, she stopped kissing him. "If you keep saying things like that, I won't be able to let you go." Hana said, almost sadly.

"And I want to spend more time with you Hana, but I have to do quests with Ayl and Tia and help others." Shinji replied.

"Stop, Shinji. Stop saying those things. I won't be able to let you leave." Hana said, her eyes tearing up.

Shinji looked into her eyes, which was when he noticed something strange. "Hana, your eyes."

"Eh?"

"They changed color." Shinji said.

She looked at him with a puzzled face until she reached into her desk and pulled out a small mirror from the drawer.

Looking at her reflection, her green eyes had turned saphire blue.

"The side effects have worn off." She said happily.

"Side effects?" Shinji asked.

"Before you cured me, I frequently had headaches." She pulled out a glass jar from another drawer. "I used to take these herbs to dull the pain and the alchemist said that one side effect was that my eyes might change color. But now that I haven't taken these in a while, the effects have worn off." She explained.

"Oh. Let me look at your eyes." He said and she turned to look into his eyes. He stared at her eyes for 5 seconds before he said. "Your eyes look even prettier." He complimented.

"You didn't like my eyes before?" She asked.

"I thought your eyes looked good when they were green, but blue looks even better on you." He clarified.

"Thank you." She said, relieved about his assurance and kissed him yet again.

As they kissed, Shinji wondered if all the popular guys got to experience this kind of bliss.

"It's a shame, but I have to get to work now Shinji. I really would want to spend an entire day alone with you." Hana said, rather possessively.

"Then how about if I try to make time so we can do that?" Shinji asked, also wanting to spend a day with Hana, doing nothing but having fun with her.

"I would have to ask my aunt if I can take a day off, but I don't think that she will deny it." Hana replied, glad that he didn't reject her wish.

' _A date with Hana. But what could we do if we had one? This world doesn't have much in the way of entertainment_.' He thought. ' _At least nothing that I'm used to.'_

"Then let's try to make it happen Hana. Let's have fun together." Shinji said.

"Yes. I'm looking forward to it." She said happily.

They got up and Shinji did a quick wash up on both of them with water magic, wanting to try out something new. He created a water-portal above them and a darkness-portal below them. The water-portal rained down warm water on them like a shower, while the darkness-portal absorbed the water so that the room didn't get flooded. And since the darkness storage couldn't store living creatures, they didn't sink into it.

Shinji called it a Shower, but the effect made Hana feel that it was some kind of luxury that only the Royals could afford or have access to. She also thought that it was very romantic at how close they were while they showered.

Once the pair were fully washed, with Shinji using 'Clean' to get their teeth cleaned as well, he did a quick appraisal, only to see that they both had Contraceptive magic on them, so he turned it off. He was glad that the magic had worked so he wouldn't get Hana pregnant by accident.

"By the way Hana, how did you know about the Darkness spell that prevents pregnancy?" Shinji asked as he pulled his pants on.

"My aunt told me about it some time ago and magic like that is often used in brothels." She answered as she tied up her panties strings.

"Oh, well it's a good thing that you knew about it then. I don't want to get you pregnant by accident." Shinji said.

"And I don't wish to get pregnant before marriage." She replied as they both finished getting dressed.

As they exited the room, Hana spoke up. "Today's breakfast will only be sandwiches, since I have to resupply our food stock."

"That's fine Hana. I can always get food from other places if I get hungry." Shinji countered.

"But I want you to eat only my food." Hana said jealously.

"No need to get jealous about it Hana. I still think that your food is the best." Shinji said.

They heard people talking downstairs as they were approaching the first floor. Hana recognized her aunt's and Ayl's voices.

Shinji was surprised when he saw Brighid sitting at the table with Ayl and Juna. He hadn't seen or heard from her in over 2 weeks. Not since the Hearth Inn.

"And there they are!" Ayl shouted when she noticed them.

"Come on and join us, you two." Juna said, eating her sandwich.

"Why aren't you at work, auntie?" Hana asked Juna.

"Because I'm taking a day off to let my body rest. So I came over to see my niece who is always working hard for my customers." Juna answered.

"Morning Shinji." Tia and Ayl said in unison, unwittingly.

"Morning." He greeted them back as he and Hana sat down.

"Ayl told me that you had a lot of fun yesterday." Juna said with an amused smirk.

"What are you talking about?" Hana replied nervously, looking away.

"My my Hana. Are you trying to hide things from me?" Juna asked, smirking like a chesire cat.

"Absolutely not!" Hana answered, flustered.

"Confess Hana! You did something pervy with Shinji didn't you?" Juna said, still smiling her amused smirk as she suddenly grabbed Hana from behind.

"Stop That Auntie!" Hana half-screamed, not wanting to tell her the truth.

"It's no use hiding it, Hana. I heard you and Shinji having sex last night." Ayl added.

"AYL!" Shinji and Hana shouted at her.

Juna released Hana after an affectionate hug.

"Don't worry about it, I'm not angry. I'm actually happy for you Hana." Juna said.

Hana and Shinji looked at the songstress with a puzzled look.

"I have never seen my dear niece this happy and I have you to thank for it Shinji. So of course I am happy that you are her lover. Have you decided on a wedding day yet?" Juna said.

Both Shinji and Hana blushed furiously at hearing that.

"It's Too Early For Something Like That!" Hana shouted, embarrassed that her aunt was this upbeat about her newfound happiness.

"I was just teasing you. But I do wish you both as much luck as possible." Juna said and continued with her sandwich.

"Ayl, how could you?" Shinji asked his mentor.

"I just couldn't stop myself from telling a juicy story like this." Ayl answered with a toothy grin, clearly amused by Shinji's red embarrassed face.

"Freaking Girl-Talk." Shinji mumbled to himself.

Tia just looked at them blankly, eating her food. Though she was thinking that maybe she should go on the offensive to gain Shinji's attention.

Shinji finally noticed that Tia was not wearing her armor. Instead, she was wearing a white shirt which looked like it was made from cotton and the sleeves almost reached her wrists and her pants were typical brown leather that Hana wore quite often. Because of the armor, Shinji wasn't sure what kind of body she had, but now that the armor wasn't in the way, he could see that Tia was quite slender and athletic, with surprisingly big breasts, possibly an F-cup. Her legs looked thin, but he could tell that they had muscle in them and her arms were the same way and her belly was quite flat, she reminded him of a swimsuit model.

"It's been a while Shinji. Looks like you are doing well." Brighid finally spoke.

He had forgotten that she was there.

"Yes, it has been a while Brighid. You're looking well." He replied.

"I haven't seen you in 2 weeks and already you have the popular Inn cook Hana as your lover. You sure work fast. And now the B-rank adventurer Tia is also after you. I never would have thought that you were such a charmer, despite having a cute face." Brighid said.

"Aren't you all getting a bit too hyped about my love life?" Shinji asked, getting exhausted that all of his acquaintance's, except Tia, were like this just because he and Hana did the deed.

"Well the reason for that is because we are happy for Hana and this is the most interesting thing that has happened in a good while." Brighid answered.

During his training, when Shinji told Hana how he met Ayl and Brighid at the Hearth Inn, Hana mentioned that she knew Brighid because she sometimes came over for drinks and food and sometimes rented a room when she got really drunk. Other then that, they weren't that familiar with each other.

"And there has been no new cases at the Rangers?" Shinji asked Brighid.

"Not really. Some burglaries and bandits, but nothing major. So Hana, was Shinji good in bed?" Brighid asked.

"You can't ask things like that!" Hana shouted with a red face.

"Oh come on Hana, don't leave me hanging here. I want to hear all the juicy details." Brighid pressed on with her curiosity.

"I don't know you that well. And it's none of your business." Hana countered.

"Alright alright, I think we have teased her quite enough." Ayl said.

"Oh no we haven't Ayl. I still haven't heard any details." Brighid protested.

"And you won't. Those are private matters between these two." Ayl said, which made Hana and Shinji sigh in relief.

"But the reason why Brighid is here is because we have some good news for you Hana." Tia finally spoke.

"What good news?" Hana asked.

"Warnock was arrested along with those thugs he hired to rough up Shinji. Thanks to Tia's testimony, they have been thrown in prison for 5 years." Juna said.

"Well that is good news. You don't have to worry about him now Hana." Shinji said to his lover when he placed his hand on her shoulder.

Hana just smiled at the good news.

"Thank you Tia." Shinji said to the lancer.

Her lips turned into a small smile. "You're welcome Shinji."

"I simply have to ask this now. Did you and Ayl really clear out the salt mine from those goblins and the golem?" Brighid asked.

"Yes, we did. There was a goblin shaman leading the pack and Shinji destroyed the golem with his metal powers." Ayl answered.

"That power of yours sounds quite handy Shinji. The Rangers might ask for your services in the future. It's even more amazing then I thought when I saw it back in that Inn." Brighid complimented.

"And I also have to thank you for that, since we can finally restock on salt. Our food will once again be delicious." Juna added.

"I thought Hana's cooking was always delicious, even without salt." Shinji complimented, looking at the cook in question.

She smiled at him, because she was weak against praise.

"But anyway Shinji, let's talk business." Ayl said.

"Are we going to take on another quest?" Shinji asked.

"Yes, I was thinking that we could select another urgent request that affects the population. Those jobs also pay well." Ayl said.

"Is there another reason for taking a quest like that?" Shinji asked.

"Actually there is. You could use the money to take Hana on a date." Ayl answered.

Hana and Shinji looked at her with a puzzled look.

"Oh I remember quite well how you told me how it was your dream to go on a date Hana." Ayl said.

"What a wonderful idea. I'll give you a day off when Shinji is ready to take you out." Juna said.

Hana was a bit embarrassed about the whole thing but she was glad that her dream would come true and her aunt wasn't going to stop her by denying the day off from her.

Shinji was glad that Hana's aunt wasn't against the idea of him being in a relationship with her niece.

"With that said, let's get going Shinji. I want you to take Hana out on a date as soon as possible." Ayl said and got up.

"Can I at least finish my breakfast first?" Shinji asked.

"Of course." Ayl said and sat back down. Though truthfully she didn't want to watch Shinji and Tia eating since she would get hungry again.

During the meal, Brighid asked if Shinji was now ready to tell her where he was from and Shinji answered with the story Lianna suggested. Juna and Brighid said their condolences and didn't ask any more of his past after that. Brighid also said that she left out Shinji's power from her report, so the Rangers were still unaware of his abilities, but it might not last long if there was a case where they could use his powers.

10 minutes later the trio was getting ready to leave for the Guild as Hana came over to Shinji.

"Be careful on your adventure Shinji." she said to him.

"I will Hana. I will come back and take you on a date." He answered and received a kiss from her, again.

Tia wondered what a kiss would feel like, seeing how Hana seemed to enjoy kissing Shinji and he seemed to enjoy it as well.

As the trio exited the Inn, Tia was heading to the Guild when Shinji and Ayl suddenly went in another direction.

"Where are you going?" Tia turned to ask them.

"We're going to see Gallus and get Shinji's weapons." Ayl answered.

"What kind of weapons are you getting Shinji?" Tia asked Shinji as she ran up to them.

"You'll see when I get them, but I'll tell you that they are made from: mithril." He answered.

"I'm jealous of you. I always wanted a weapon made from mithril." Tia replied.

"What material is your trident made of?" Shinji asked.

"Brightsteel." She answered.

"What kind of mithril weapon do you want?" He asked.

"A knife." She answered.

Shinji just smiled at her answers. She usually kept her answers short and to the point. And he kind of liked that because sometimes he wasn't in the mood to hear detailed answers, even if he was a little curious.

"How expensive were those weapons?" Tia asked.

"5 gold coins and 3 kg of mithril, since I provided the mithril required for them and we helped Gallus with them." Shinji answered.

"You got the mithril from the golem?" Tia asked.

"Yeah, I did." He answered just as they reached the shop.

Entering the store and seeing Gallus making a sale for someone, they waited for the customer to leave before talking to him. Tia went to look over the throwing knives at the display case at the center of the store.

The customer left with his dual bladed hatchet he bought and Gallus turned his attention to Shinji and Ayl.

"Morning Gallus. Is Shinji's order ready?" Ayl asked bluntly.

"It is." Gallus answered simply and pulled out the blades in sheaths from under the counter.

Shinji picked up one blade and un-sheathed it. Looking over the blade, the curved blade looked very sharp and the form was perfect, almost like it was made with a precision laser and the leather straps on the handles were firmly tied around the grip. His hand didn't even slip because the leather was slightly rough.

"Shinji, hold out the blade." Gallus said as he pulled out a silk handkerchief.

Shinji held out the blade with the cutting side up and Gallus dropped the silk cloth on it. The cloth was instantly cut in two as the it fell upon the blade.

"Wow." Shinji and Ayl gasped, along with Tia, who just came over to look at the weapon.

"This is one of the finer properties of mithril. You can make it that sharp and you don't have to worry about it breaking or dulling, even if the blade is thin. Just don't try to cut metal that is harder then mithril with it." Gallus explained.

"Impressive, Mr. Gallus. These will come in very handy." Shinji said and re-sheathed the blade.

"Superb work as always Gallus." Ayl complimented.

"Naturally. Dwarves are masters of smithing." Gallus said proudly.

"I've got to get me one of these." Tia said, holding the other blade and practically drooling over it with starry eyes.

Shinji and Ayl looked at Tia who snapped out of her trance when she noticed them watching her.

"I mean, a weapon like this would suit my fighting style." She said, slightly embarrassed that she got carried away while admiring the weapon.

"It would cost you 20 gold." Gallus said.

"Why so much?" Tia asked, upset about the price.

"Because I would have to order mithril, which will take at least a week to get here and then there is the transportation cost. Then I would have to work 2 days straight to make it. I only managed to do these quickly because Shinji and Ayl helped me and provided the material. Alone, it will take more time and effort, hence the high price." Gallus answered.

Tia looked disheartened. She really wanted a mithril weapon, but most of her money already went to lodging and food, as well as the maintenance of her current equipment, which she worked really hard to obtain.

"Don't worry Tia, we'll think of something." Shinji assured, which made Ayl slap her hand over her eyes. Her apprentice was too kind at times, which didn't bother her but it would raise problems in the wrong situations.

"You mean that?" Tia asked, already looking perkier.

"Of course. You helped us, twice, so it would be only fair to help you get the weapons you want." Shinji replied.

"Thank you Shinji. You're so dependable." Tia said, looking very happy about his promise.

Ayl sweat-dropped. Tia acting like that was something she never expected.

Shinji put his new weapons in his Darkness storage as Ayl nodded.

"Now that our business here is done, let's go to the Guild." Ayl said.

Tia and Shinji followed her out as Gallus called out to them.

"Come by again to buy my wares." He said as they waved good-bye.

"Tia, why do you want a mithril weapon so badly?" Shinji asked the lancer.

"Because I don't like swords. They are cumbersome and harder to maintain. I prefer light weapons that are sharp and durable. Also because I like to strike at my opponents weak points to take them down quickly. The blades you have would be ideal for me because they suit my preferences and style perfectly. And because mithril doesn't require maintenance as often as steel or iron." Tia answered.

"Aah, I see. But I see you have been doing well with the weapons you have." Shinji complimented, which earned him a small smile from her.

"That's because my mother was a good teacher." She replied.

' _Is everyone in his world such a charmer_?' Ayl wondered as she listened to her partners talking and even getting smiles out of Tia, which she hadn't seen before she joined their party.

Arriving at the Guild where several adventurers were exiting the building, either having completed their quests or heading out to complete them, Shinji received glares from the men as usual.

' _Being popular has it's downsides in every world it seems_.' He thought, not liking how they glared at him out of jealousy.

"AYL! Come over here!" Krulcifer shouted from her counter.

Ayl just went over to the receptionist with her partners following.

"What is it Krulcifer?" The elf asked.

"I have an urgent request for you. The guildmaster told me to give you this mission when you got here." Krulcifer answered and handed her the sheet.

Ayl looked it over with her partners looking over her shoulders. The sheet said 'Find the missing hunters in the Dark Forest'.

"And why is this urgent?" Ayl asked.

"Because the adventurer we sent on this mission hasn't reported back. She took this quest 5 days ago and we haven't heard anything from her since then." Krulcifer said.

"And who was this adventurer?" Ayl asked.

"Lilia Kranjcar, the D-rank archer from Evenmoor." Krulcifer answered.

"You let a D-rank adventurer go in the Dark Forest alone?" Ayl asked in disbelief.

"She was more then qualified for this mission because of her training. There must be something in that forest that nobody would have expected. The guildmaster wants you to take your party there and find out what happened to the hunters and our adventurer. The hunters families are also raising all kinds of ruckus because they haven't heard anything from their loved ones and we are not showing any results." Krulcifer explained.

Ayl huffed. "Fine. I will handle this."

"Thank you. And be careful out there." Krulcifer urged.

Ayl started to walk towards the door with her partners following. "Ayl, is something wrong?" Shinji asked his mentor.

"Not really. I just don't like going into the Dark Forest." She answered.

"Why not?" Tia asked before Shinji could.

"Because it's a dense forest where fighting with a sword is difficult and there is hardly any shelter in there. If it starts raining, then one is in for an unpleasant night. And there are black wolves in there, which are stealthier then other wolves." Ayl answered.

Shinji grimaced. The wolves didn't worry him that much now that he had weapons, but getting caught in the rain sounded unpleasant. Tia also didn't like the idea of a rain shower.

"Since we are going to the Dark Forest, let's go get our gear from the Inn and some food for the journey." Ayl said and walked towards the inn.

"How long is this trip?" Shinji asked.

"By horse, it will take almost a day to get to the Hunters Inn, which the hunters use when they go on a hunt in the forest. We will start our search from there." Ayl answered.

"Are we going to ride Tornac again?" Shinji asked.

"Of course." Ayl answered bluntly.

Shinji wasn't nervous about riding Tornac again since the horse had proven to be well-behaved and he was kinda looking forward to riding him again.

Tia thought that maybe she could use this chance to score some points with Shinji by showing him how reliable she was in trips like this. And maybe she could also suggest that if they camped out somewhere, they could keep each other warm with their bodies. She blushed a little from the idea of hugging Shinji against her body, since she had never done that before.

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Once the trio had retrieved their equipment from the inn, they went over to the stables to rent Tornac. Ayl even had Shinji saddle up the horse for practice. When Shinji told Hana that they would be heading to the Dark Forest, she hastily packed the remaining vegetables, fruits and sandwiches for the trio. Shinji stored the food and their supplies in his Darkness storage, to which Tia said that she was jealous of Shinji because she would have wanted to have a Darkness storage as well.

Hana and Juna came along to see them off as they were getting ready at the stables. And Hana gave him a good luck kiss. Shinji thought that getting kissed so often would get him addicted to it, but he wasn't going to stop Hana from kissing him.

Brighid had to return to the Rangers headquarters, but hoped to hear about their adventure when they returned.

Leaving the city, the trio were a couple miles out when Shinji, who was sitting behind Ayl, asked his mentor something.

"Ayl, do you have any idea what happened to those missing people?" he asked.

"My best guess is that they are dead. If not, then I have no idea." Ayl answered.

Tia didn't like the sound of that. If there was something in there that wanted people alive, then she would have to make sure that she wasn't caught alive. But she hoped that nothing of the sort would happen because she still wanted to do things with Shinji and experience love. So she tightened her hold on Shinji as she sat behind him.

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(The Dark Forest Tower)

The raven-haired sorceress, named Mirian, just looked at the captured archer and the hunters who had dared to enter her forest. They were all just standing there with an empty look in their eyes, her hypnosis trinket having them under her complete control.

' _They are a perfect additions to my guard_.' She thought, evaluating her victims.

All around her chamber were numerous jars of different sizes filled with 'things' that spoke of her macabre nature. Eyeballs, talons, scales, skulls and various other parts and pieces of creatures from distant corners of the kingdom. There were various tools and cups and vials on a large table to the side of a large cauldron. A large book shelf with various tomes that looked older than the Tower itself. On the other side of the cauldron was a 'bird-cage' that held a large bat-like creature which was hanging upside down and appeared to be asleep.

There were a couple of ravens sitting in the rafters looking down at her as she entered the room. The occasional spider and rat scurrying around the room.

In the center of the large room was her cauldron, which served two purposes. The first was to mix the ingredients for her larger spells and potions, the other was to spy on various places and people around the kingdom.

She went over to her cauldron to see what her person of interest was doing at the moment.

Chanting the spell, the liquid in the cauldron formed an image of Shinji and Ayl, talking about their quest in the Dark Forest. And a new member of Ayl's party also appeared in the image.

' _Ooh! Another one in Ayl's party and she looks strong. She looks like a fine addition to my guard. And they are coming over here to find the missing people. Just as I hoped. Now then Ayl, hopefully you are prepared for the torment I will put you through_.' Mirian thought, imagining all the pain she will inflict on Ayl when she has captured the elven warrior and made her friends into obedient slaves.

In her head, Lilia kept hoping that the adventurers who were coming would save her from this nightmare.

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Authors Notes:

And here is Chapter 10 of my collaboration with Reisfriend. Mostly his idea.

Hope you enjoyed reading it, and please enjoy these omakes in the following.

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OMAKE 1

"How do you usually wake her up?" Shinji asked Hana as they looked at Ayl who was sleeping like a rock.

"I usually use delicious food to wake her up. I either whisper to her ear that the food is ready or I wave something that smells delicious to her nose." Hana answered.

Shinji thought about how to wake her up. He could dump a few gallons of cold water on her with magic, but cleaning it up would be a pain so he decided to use her other weakness.

"Did you know that Ayl is extremely ticklish?" Shinji asked his lover.

"No. Are you going to tickle her?" Hana asked, smirking at the idea.

"You want to tickle her as well?" Shinji asked and Hana nodded, smiling devilishly.

"You take her left foot." He said and grabbed her right ankle as Hana grabbed the left one.

"On a count of three. One. Two. Three." Shinji said and they started tickling her feet.

"HYAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAHAAHHAAAA!" Ayl started laughing like crazy when they started.

After a minute, they stopped tickling her. "WHUAAAHH!" Ayl gasped when they stopped.

"Good morning Ayl." Shinji and Hana said.

She frowned at them. "Can't you wake me up normally?" Ayl whined at the pair.

They looked at each other and then to Ayl. "Nope." Ayl frowned again.

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OMAKE 2

"Even if Shinji is your lover, I won't back down." Tia declared, holding a cup against the table.

"I won't hand him over to you." Hana countered, also holding a cup against the table.

Shinji was sitting on the chair, looking at the pair competing. He had a sign hanging on his neck that said 'Prize'.

Right now the girls were competing who would have sex with him tonight and decided to roll some dices. The one who had a bigger number with two dices would get to shag him tonight.

They both lifted the cups and the numbers read 9. They rolled again and this time both had 8 and after a third roll, they both had 11.

"How is this possible?" Hana asked in disbelief.

"Maybe the Gods are telling us to have a threesome with Shinji." Tia said.

Hana and Tia looked at each other and nodded. Then they both dragged Shinji to the bedroom and had their way with him, but he outlasted them because of his healing powers.

In the God's realm, the Goddess of Love smirked.

"That will do them a world of good." Lianna said, having manipulated the dices to show the same numbers.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

OMAKE 3 'Different Life'

Gallus grinned as he pounded away at the mithril broadsword he was crafting. This was one of the finest blades he had ever smithed.

"Alright, Shinji. Now, dip the blade into the water." he said to his apprentice.

"Yes, sir!" Shinji nodded and used his hands to direct the heated blade into the cool water.

The hissing sound and escaping steam filled the shop.

Once the blade was the appropriate temperature, Shinji levitated the sword over to the anvil and started to carefully shape the edges while Gallus worked on the pommel and handle.

Shinji had become Gallus's apprentice for two very special reasons. One, because he managed to obtain a Draconic Firestone for the Dwarven blacksmith to use to heat his forge. The other reason was that he was able to manipulate metal thanks to the blessings of Gallus, God of Metal.

With his metal powers, Shinji made the perfect apprentice to the Dwarf. Which he actually found to be a worthwhile endeavor as opposed to going on dangerous quests. He had never wanted to even pilot his Evangelion robot for his bastard of a father, and considering how badly everyone in his world had treated him, used him and manipulated him for their own purposes, finding acceptance in this new world came easily.

Gallus had practically pleaded on his hands and knees to make Shinji his apprentice when he found out about his metal powers. Seeing his sincerity, Shinji accepted.

Just then, the door to the shop opened up and Ayl the elven warrior entered. She was followed by Brighid of the Rangers and Tia the quarter-vampire lancer.

Gallus just grinned as the trio stopped in to see Shinji. They had come for their commissions, but mostly to see Shinji.

"Shinji! Are you here?" Brighid called out.

"Miss Brighid. Miss Tia. Lady Ayl." Shinji said as he placed the sword on the anvil to cool.

"I have your orders." Shinji said to the trio as he grabbed a trio of weapons wrapped in cloth.

"Thank you, Shinji. We hope they weren't too much trouble." Ayl said.

"Well, they weren't easy." Shinji said as he put their orders on the counter.

Ayl had commissioned a new sword. Tia had commissioned a special knife. And Brighid had commissioned a new flail.

The trio didn't bother to haggle with Shinji over their weapons prices, knowing that they were exactly what they had asked for. And then some. Though they were mostly here to see Shinji. But they weren't the only ones.

The door opened again and Hana the Silver Eagle Inn cook and receptionist, and Rei Ayanami, who had the blessings of the Goddess of Healing, Lianna.

"What are you doing here?" Tia asked Rei.

"We came to see Shinji!" The blue-haired healer said to the vampire.

Just then, a black mist formed in the center of the room, before it took shape.

"Mirian!" Ayl growled as she pulled her knife from it's sheath.

"Back off, elf! I have come for my commission!" the raven-sorceress growled.

"And to see Shinji!" Brighid snapped.

"And to see Shinji." Mirian retorted with a smirk.

The six women glared at each other, each proving stand-offish at the moment.

Gallus groaned, hoping that these women didn't destroy his shop.

Again.


	11. Surprise Encounter

_**SHINJIS NEW LIFE  
**_ By Gunman & Reisfriend

Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion or it's characters.

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Chapter 11  
 **Surprise Encounter**

Having ridden for almost 16 hours straight, the trio had stopped at a grassy clearing that was over 30 miles away from their destination, the Hunters Inn. The soreness of Shinji's ass was killing him, but Ayl forbid him from healing it, saying that he still has to get used to it.

Tornac was currently lying down, resting after a long trip with his saddle removed. Ayl had Shinji remove the saddle, give him water and food and appraise the horse in case it had sustained any injuries. But thankfully, he wasn't injured. Shinji also used water magic to clean off all the trail dirt from the horses body, which made Tornac push his muzzle against his chest in gratitude.

Right now the trio was sitting around the campfire, eating sandwiches and fruits that Hana packed for them. Shinji had stored them in his Darkness storage, where food doesn't spoil, which was another convenient thing about the spell which made it so wanted and valuable. One could store practically anything in there and they don't spoil, degrade or age. Living things were the only thing one couldn't store in there.

Shinji had also dumped the water he and Hana used in their shower from the storage, which made Tia and Ayl question him about the whole thing. After explaining why he had so much water in his storage, both adventurers said that they would like to try the hot shower once they returned.

And food wasn't the only thing Shinji had stored in his storage. Ayl had Shinji place blankets, bedrolls and firewood in storage so Tornac wouldn't have to tire himself even more by carrying camping supplies, they would be able to travel light by not hiring a wagon, and they didn't have to find firewood for the campfire.

"Tonight, Tia and I will take shifts guarding the camp while you sleep Shinji." Ayl said, sipping the cold water Shinji had created with water magic.

"I don't mind sleeping, but are you sure you don't want me to guard as well?" Shinji asked, not feeling comfortable about letting the women do the hard work.

"You need to sleep off your soreness. And I suspect that once Tia and I fall asleep, you'll heal yourself to make the soreness go away. And you are not as aware of your surroundings as Tia or me. Tia's senses are higher then humans so she can hear creatures from further away and I can use my detection spell. You could use your Darkness magic to see in the dark, but something could still sneak up on you and us. So you will sleep and in the morning, you will use your healing power to make our fatigue go away." Ayl answered.

Shinji looked disgruntled that Ayl suspected him of healing his soreness once his companions were asleep. Though she was right, he would have done that.

Ayl finished her meal and took off her cloak, transforming into her female form. This time she was wearing a form fitting leather armor that left nothing for imagination, despite the fact that it exposed no skin.

"So that's what you look like without your cloak. It's no wonder every man in the guild is lusting after you." Tia commented. Shinji remembered that Ayl said that she had been wearing the cloak for six years now while Tia had been an adventurer for 5 years, so Tia hadn't seen Ayl in her female form. Despite that she knew about it.

"Tia, let's toss a coin to see which of us takes first watch." Ayl said, pulling out a coin from her pocket.

"Tails." Tia said and Ayl tossed the coin and caught it.

"Heads." Ayl said, showing the trident-wielder that it was heads. "So, I will take the first watch. I'll wake you up in 5 hours, so go to sleep now. You as well Shinji." Ayl ordered.

Tia started to take off her armor, leaving her in her undershirt and pants, as Shinji went over to the bedrolls. As he laid down, Tia came over and laid down next to him.

"Tia, what are you doing?" Shinji asked, blushing a bit that the hot lancer was snuggling up to him.

"We are going to keep each other warm by sleeping like this." She answered bluntly.

"But... the fire is..." Shinji started to say.

"You want to sleep that close to the fire instead of me?" she asked.

Shinji couldn't counter that effectively.

Ayl was giggling at the scene. Shinji wanted to protest at first, but didn't, since he was feeling quite warm when Tia pulled the fur blanket over them and snuggled up close to him, feeling her firm breasts pressing against his side and she even entangled her legs with his. As if she was using him as the bed.

"What do you think Shinji? Are you feeling warm?" Tia asked, secretly enjoying the feeling of their closeness.

His heart pounded for a short moment before it calmed down. He had to admit that Tia's body pressed up against him felt really good and he was feeling warm. She was surprisingly soft, considering that she was packing more muscle then most athletic girls from his world.

"Yes, I'm feeling quite warm. Thanks Tia." He answered.

"This feels quite pleasant for me as well Shinji, we should sleep together more often. When we get back, come to my room and sleep with me." Tia suggested.

"I'll think about it." Shinji replied, not sure how Hana would feel if he slept with Tia instead of her, even if polygamy was normal in this world.

"Hopefully you will decide on my favor." Tia said and closed her eyes. Shinji did the same and it didn't take long for them to fall asleep. Ayl couldn't wait to cuddle up to Shinji, seeing how comfortable Tia looked while embracing her apprentice.

Activating her detection spell, she sensed all living creatures in a 100-meter radius around their small camp. Just harmless animals and bugs staying away from their campfire. Still, heading to the Dark Forest made her uneasy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

9 hours later, Shinji woke up to the sunlight shining on his face. Having slept like a log since he was tired from their long journey, he didn't immediately feel two soft things pressed tightly against his back and a pair of arms wrapped around his waist.

"Ahh, you woke up Shinji." Tia said, looking at his face.

"Tia..." He started before the other occupant of the bedroll tightened her hold on him.

He realized that Ayl was using him as a hug pillow.

"Wake up Ayl." Shinji told his sleeping mentor. Her eyes cracked open and after she realized what position she was in, she released him.

"Whuaaaahhh! That was a good rest." Ayl said, stretching her arms and back.

"You're right. I was also resting comfortably until you woke me up." Tia commented.

Shinji felt happy that these two beauties enjoyed using him as a hug pillow.

"Did anything happen while I slept?" he asked.

"No. Nothing dangerous approached us." Tia answered shortly.

"We need to move out soon. But first, some grub." Ayl said, standing up and stretching her body some more as her stomach howled, earning a laugh from Shinji. Ayl's growling stomach was just too funny every time. Even Tia almost laughed at the sound.

The trio ate some tomatoes, apples and the remaining sandwiches for breakfast and afterwards he used the 'Rest' chant to lift their fatigue.

"Your healing powers are amazing Shinji, I feel like I just rested an entire day." Tia commented, feeling energetic.

"Same here." Ayl added.

Shinji smiled from the compliments and went to give Tornac some food and water. Ayl watched how well Shinji did with the horse and was ready to point out mistakes while Tia packed away the bedrolls, blankets and put out the fire with her magic.

After Shinji had saddled up Tornac, Ayl spoke.

"Alright then, it will take about 4 or 5 hours to reach the Inn. We will rest up for a few hours and eat a good meal before we start tracking the missing people. We are going to leave Tornac in the stable and we will be camping out near the edge of the forest, which is the only good place for a camp in that area."

"I don't see any problems with that plan." Tia said.

"Fine with me." Shinji agreed, since he wasn't familiar with the area and his mentor was the expert and the leader.

Soon the trio was riding again with Ayl in front, Shinji in the middle and Tia was behind Shinji, holding onto him and secretly enjoying the contact.

Shinji was a bit displeased that Ayl was in her male form again and Tia was wearing her armor so he couldn't feel her breasts against his back, but figured that there would be another time for that. Since talking wasn't an option, considering their speed, Shinji decided to enjoy the view instead.

The absurdly tall mountains in the distance which he saw when he first arrived in this world, the lush forests and wide open spaces with grassy hills and plateaus and the clean air completely free of pollution. All in all, the world where he was in now was even more beautiful then the world he came from, since modern society had basically ruined the natural beauty and then the Second Impact which destroyed most of the world. He wondered if this world would become modern like his original world, making all the natural beauty fade away using concrete and buildings.

Ayl grumbled in her head. While she did like it that Tia was in her group which lessened her burden of adventuring with Shinji, it had become more difficult to ask Shinji about his world, since she was curious and was just dying to know what else his world had, aside from the foods he had mentioned.

After almost 5 hours, the Hunters Inn came into view. Shinji looked at the building and thought it looked more like a large 2-story house then a cabin that he imagined. There weren't any horses at the hitching posts and no wagons either. Almost like nobody was there.

Stopping at the stable next to the inn, the trio climbed down from Tornac.

Before Tia or Shinji could say anything, Ayl chanted her detection spell, so they waited for her to finish.

A few seconds later Ayl spoke.

"There is only one person in there. The innkeeper most likely."

"Other hunters might be out hunting or they are staying away from here because of the disappearances." Tia deduced.

"Quite possibly the latter." Ayl said and took Tornac to the stable.

After Tornac was in the stable with the saddle removed, the trio entered the inn, looking at the entrance hall that looked kinda like the Silver Eagle Inn, except that the walls were decorated with animal heads and a few stuffed birds.

"Ahh, it's quite a surprise to see customers here anymore." The innkeeper said as he came out from the kitchen. The man had black wolf ears and a tail and he had a lean muscular build with black hair and light blue eyes. His black clothes looked like they were made from cotton and were simple in design. "Welcome. I'm Aleron, the innkeeper."

"Are the others staying away because of the recent disappearances?" Ayl asked.

"Yup. Because of that, the last customer I had was that young lady archer who came to find the missing hunters. Are you trying to find her?" The innkeeper asked.

"Yes. We would like to eat a decent meal before we head out and I also left our horse in the stable. So how much?" Ayl asked.

"1 gold and 2 silvers." He said and Ayl paid him. "I'll have your meal ready in half an hour." He said and went to the kitchen.

"I guess we wait now. Do you want to play dices while we wait?" Ayl asked.

"Sure/Why not." Tia and Shinji said and the trio went to the nearest table.

Before their meal was ready, which were werebear steakes, the trio played Liar's Dice, in which Tia won. To her partners surprise, Tia was a pretty good liar since she kept a straight face all the time and had no tells. Shinji thought that she would have been one helluva poker player as well.

As they finished their meal, they made a quick check on their equipment and weapons. Tia had her trident spear, throwing knives and her light steel armor. Ayl had her sword and knives and the leather armor, as well as her cloak. Shinji was now wearing the leather armor he bought from Orik with the knives hanging on his waist, the mithril blades Gallus made were under the coat, strapped on to his back in their sheaths so he could pull them out fast enough when needed.

"Alright, looks like were as ready as we can be. Now, follow me." Ayl said and they started their journey towards the forest.

"Take care, you all." Aleron called out.

It took them 5 hours to reach the edge of the forest, which they could have done in less then an hour with Tornac, but Ayl said that Tornac would be defenseless if they left him at the edge of the forest and they couldn't take him with them to the forest, since it was quite dense and a big horse like Tornac would only invite wolves to them, since wolves could smell him from miles away.

As they came closer to the treeline, Ayl spoke again.

"We have only two hours of daylight left. Shinji, you set the camp with Tia and I will take a look around for any tracks that could belong to the missing people."

"You're going to look for tracks alone?" Tia asked.

"I won't go far. I'll be back before the sun sets." Ayl said and entered the forest.

Shinji started to pull out their camping supplies from his storage and made the campfire, which Tia lit with her magic.

Since the pair had nothing to do while they waited their leader, Tia decided to pass time by throwing knives to the nearest tree.

THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK

Tia had thrown 4 knives in rapid succession to the tree very close to each other, not even an inch between them.

"That's impressive Tia." Shinji complimented.

"Thank you. My mother taught me how to throw a knife and I practiced for years before I could throw them this fast." She said as she went to take the knives out of the tree.

"Can you hit that branch?" Shinji asked as she came back next to him, pointing at the low branch on the tree.

She didn't answer with words, instead she threw the knife and it hit the branch he pointed at. Shinji was awed, since he was the type of guy who fully admires people with amazing skills that he doesn't have.

"Impressive." Shinji said as he raised his hand and pulled the knife out of the branch and flew it back to him. Tia just looked at what he did.

"Would you show me more of your power, Shinji?" Tia asked.

"You mean what can I do with these knives?" He asked, and she nodded.

He focused his power to the knives and Tia opened her hand to let them levitate. Then he made them fly to the same branch he had pointed. He pulled them back and this time he used the knives to cut the branch off and used the knives to carry the branch next to the campfire. After that, he made a small T sign with the knives when he made them fly towards the tree.

"Incredible. A very useful power, Shinji. It's no wonder you were able to defeat me. You could use my armor and weapons against me." Tia complimented as he pulled the knives to her.

"But you have more impressive skills, Tia. I couldn't throw a knife like you do." Shinji countered and showed her as he threw the knife towards the tree, which went spinning over and over itself, the handle hitting the tree instead of the blade.

"That's because it takes years to master this skill and you haven't practiced. I'm sure that if you did practice, you can also throw knives as good as I do." Tia said and tossed the knife to another branch. Then she threw both knives at the same time and they both stuck to the tree close to each other.

"I don't have the patience for something like that, especially if I have no talent." Shinji said, pulling the knives to her again with his power.

"How about if I teach you for a bit? Or do you have something to do?" Tia asked as she flipped the knife over in her hand, catching the blade carefully and pointed the handle at him.

"Well, we might as well try." Shinji said and took the offered knife.

For the next half an hour, Tia taught him how to hold the knife and how fast he has to throw with a spin from certain distances, then he tried to throw the knife and 6 times the handle hit the tree and on the 7th try, he missed the tree. The 8th throw was successful, but his throw missed the intended spot by a few inches.

"Perhaps you would be better to use your water powers as weapons?" she mused lightly.

Shinji sighed as he retrieved the blades once again.

"Hmm. Maybe." he said, never considering using his water powers offensively.

"Don't despair Shinji. It took me a year to accurately hit my intended target. Though I was nine years old at the time." Tia said, hoping that she didn't depress him.

"Then you are even more impressive Tia. Not only are you talented, you are also very beautiful. So it's no wonder that you have a lot of men after you." Shinji said, not bothered that he didn't have the talent for knife throwing, since hobbies like that were extremely rare in Japan, in the post Second Impact Japan anyway.

"I find it rather tiresome." Tia said and went to sit at the campfire, looking how the sun was almost set and the sky had an orange color.

"I bet. I also find it rather bothersome how they are always glaring at me for getting to spend time with you and Ayl." Shinji said as he sat down next to her, getting the cups and filling them with cold water.

Tia sipped the water which she had come to like more then ale before turning to Shinji.

"Mostly because they also wish to use me as their sex slave." She said blatantly.

Before Shinji could say anything, Ayl came out of the forest. Tia noticed her before Shinji turned around to see his mentor.

"Looks like you two were having fun while I was away." The elf-maiden said.

"A little bit. I practiced knife throwing and tried to teach Shinji. But it seems like he has no talent for it. However, his power over metal compensates for the lack of talent." Tia replied.

"Did you find anything?" Shinji asked as Ayl sat down by the fire.

"Just some week old wolf tracks and some werebear prints. Lilia must have entered the forest from somewhere else while she followed the tracks of the latest hunter. We are going to start looking for tracks at first light. But this is going to take a while since most tracks belonging to the missing people have already faded." Ayl said and took a sip water that Shinji gave her.

Suddenly, Ayl's ears twitched as they detected something. She looked back towards the edge of the treeline, looking both ways up and down the line, before turning towards the right of their camp.

AWOOOOO!

The trio heard howling from the woods as Tia turned towards the direction of the sound.

"Wolves." she gasped.

"They must have smelled me and followed me from a distance until I was out of the forest." Ayl deduced.

"And I guess running isn't an option." Shinji said as he pulled out his mithril blades, feeling nervous.

"Black wolves will outrun even demi-humans. So we have to fight and hope their numbers run out before our stamina." Tia said as she pulled out her spear, charging fire magic to the tip and the blade ignited on fire. Ayl drew her sword and also charged the blade with fire magic, the blade flaming like an inferno.

"Shinji, stay behind us and kill as many wolves as you can from behind." Ayl said as the wolfpack emerged from the forest. Tia's rough estimate was 40 wolves at least, with some silver wolves among the pack.

' _Shit. This doesn't look good_.' Shinji thought, thinking that he might die again.

3 wolves charged at them and Tia killed the first one with her throwing knife, having charged it with wind magic and throwing it into the wolves head and the second one tried to jump on her put she impaled it with her spear and Ayl killed the third one by slicing it's head off when it tried to jump on her, some blood splashing onto her face.

Seeing how three of their fellow canines were killed, the wolves started growling and snarling at the trio, but being wary of their prey after their little display and the fire on their weapons.

Shinji took the chance and used his power to spin his mithril blades and made them fly at high speed at the wolves that were staying back and killed eight of them, the blades cutting through the wolves like paper.

"Good one Shinji." Ayl commented, focusing on the closest wolves along with Tia.

GROAAAAARRR!

The trio heard another roar, which caused them and the wolves to pause, but this wasn't a wolf.

"A werebear." Ayl said, cursing her luck once again.

A few trees were knocked down when the werebear came out of the forest further away from them and charged at the wolves. Tia and Ayl hoped that it would attack the wolves or the wolves attacked it. Shinji thought that the bear looked familiar.

The wolves charged at the bear, ignoring the adventurers. The said adventurers looked at the animals fighting and the first wolf that got to the bear was grabbed between it's jaws and the wolf's head was crushed.

The bear rose up on it's hind legs and crushed the wolf that tried to jump on it's neck by bringing it's front legs back to the ground. A third wolf was killed by it's paw strike, the long and massive claws slicing the wolf's flesh effortlessly.

RAAAWWRRRR! The bear howled when one of the silver wolves in the pack had circled around behind the bear and bit it in the hind leg, blood pouring out from the bite wounds. The wolves backed away from the bear and kept their distance from the massive beast.

"Shit, the bear was poisoned. It won't be long before it dies." Ayl said, annoyed that the bear didn't kill more of the wolves that turned their attention towards them.

"Aqua cutter." Shinji said and launched eight curved blades of water towards the wolves and eleven of them were cut down before the water evaporated. (He had gotten the idea from Tia during their training) Other wolves charged at the adventurers again, but this time, Ayl created 5 spears of fire and fired them at the wolves, impaling 3 black wolves and 1 silver wolf. The last one missed the other silver wolf.

Tia charged two throwing knives with wind magic and threw the knives, hitting two wolves in the head and firing a fire bolt from her spear and incinerating the black wolf caught in it's path.

"The last one is mine." Tia said and ran at the last wolf, jumping up high and impaling her spear through it's neck. She turned towards the bear and saw it shaking as it tried to walk to the adventurers.

"It will die soon." Ayl said calmly and coldly.

"I'll save it!" Shinji shouted and was about to run to the bear, only to be stopped by Ayl.

Shinji looked at his mentor and she looked at him with cold eyes, but with a hint of saddness. "Forgive me Shinji." Then she punched him in the face, knocking him out.

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Almost an hour later, Shinji woke up, only to see breasts covered by a leather armor.

"Good, you woke up Shinji." Ayl said, her face coming into his field of vision.

It took him a few seconds to realize that Ayl was giving him a lap pillow.

"Ouch, what happened? Recovery." He groaned as he rose up from her lap, healing the massive headache he had.

"I knocked you out to stop you from healing that bear again." She answered, standing up.

"Again? So it was the bear we encountered on our way to Ithalan?" Shinji asked, surprised by the fact.

"Yes. It was the very same bear. The distinctive scars on it's body and the amount of black fur on it's paws made it very easy to recognize." Ayl answered.

Shinji looked at the direction of the animals and saw that the wolves had been piled up next to the bear.

"But did you really have to knock me out like that?" He asked.

"Again, it was to stop you from healing the bear." Ayl countered.

"But why? It helped us." Shinji asked angrily.

"Because that bear was old. It wouldn't have lived long anyway." She answered.

"How do you know?" He asked.

"Come here and I'll show you." Ayl said, walking towards the bear with Shinji following.

When Ayl stopped next to the bear and Shinji came next to her, she started her explanation.

"Werebears are always black when they are born and as they grow older, their fur changes to white. And as you can see, only the legs have some black fur in them. Judging from this amount of black fur, this one was possibly 11 or 12 years old." Ayl said and kneeled down to open the bears mouth. "And see how the teeth have rotted in it's mouth. While it could still kill other animals and people with these, it couldn't have eaten enough meat to sustain itself. So my guess is that it would have lived 5 months at most and it could have killed some unfortunate human before it did." Ayl continued.

"So by letting it die from the silver wolf's poison, we possibly saved someone's life and ended it's misery." Shinji deduced.

"Exactly. And I am really sorry for knocking you out, but I thought that was the only way to stop you, because I thought that you would have healed it anyway." Ayl replied.

"I would have. And I forgive you Ayl. You had a very good reason to stop me, so I will accept it and not dwell on it anymore." Shinji said.

"Very good Shinji. Now put these in storage and join us for grilled werebear meat." Ayl said and started walking to the campfire.

Shinji created a violet mandala beneath the wolves bodies and they sank into it and he did the same thing with the bear. He mentally thanked the bear for saving them and went over to the campfire.

Tia was cooking meat taken from the werebear and when her future husband sat down, she spoke.

"Ayl told me about your previous encounter with that bear. I must say, I never would have expected that the same bear you foolishly healed all those weeks ago would save us later from a pack of wolves."

"Neither did I." Shinji replied.

"But Shinji, even if you want to help others, don't extend that courtesy to monsters in the future." Ayl said, roasting another piece of werebear meat.

"Because they could kill someone?" Shinji asked.

"Yes. I once hunted a werebear that killed a 9-year old girl who went out to pick mushrooms for her family. Even if you save a monster and it lets you go, the next time it sees you or any other human, it will kill you or that unfortunate human." Tia said.

When Shinji heard that, he didn't feel so good. A 9-year old girl, mauled and eaten by a werebear. The image of that made him sick.

"Do you understand now Shinji? Monsters don't show sympathy like we do." Ayl asked.

"I understand." Shinji replied, wanting to end this discussion. They might have bad experiences with werebears, but he didn't. Maybe it was wrong, but that's just how it was.

"Good. At last you understand." Ayl said, starting to eat the meat she was cooking.

"Here Shinji." Tia said, handing him the piece of meat she was cooking with her left hand.

"Thanks Tia." He replied and took the offered meat and started eating as Tia started to eat the other piece of meat she was cooking with her right hand. Shinji made water for them with magic.

Half an hour later, they finished eating the meat and there was still a large plate full of meat left. Ayl told Shinji to store it in his storage, since they will be eating it when they start searching the forest. He did as instructed. During the meal, Shinji also asked why they didn't cast their fire magic at the wolves immediately when they came out of the woods, to which Ayl replied that the forest would have been set on fire if they did, but after the wolves were done with the bear, they could use their magic since the forest was no longer behind the wolves and there was no danger of burning down the entire forest.

"Alright then. Let's get some sleep. I will take first watch again and Shinji will sleep and heal our fatigue in the morning. When we start searching, we won't be sleeping." Ayl said.

"What do you mean Ayl?" Shinji asked, the part about not sleeping confusing him.

"We won't sleep in the forest. We have to find the missing people as fast as possible and get out of this forest. Sleeping would be difficult since there are no good places to set up camp. So you will keep using your healing powers to lift our fatigue so we search even at night and you will also give us the magic that allows us to see in the dark. We can sleep when we get back to the inn." Ayl explained.

"That sounds quite tiresome." Shinji said.

"It is, but this forest gets dangerous if one stays in there too long." Ayl replied.

Tia also looked uncomfortable at the idea of staying awake for over a day. It wouldn't be her first time staying awake days at the time, but the feeling of not sleeping was unpleasant for her.

"Very well then." Shinji relented and went over to the bedrolls with Tia, who snuggled up to him again, which didn't surprise him this time.

"Shinji, let's find the missing people quickly so we can get back and sleep together, at the Hunters Inn." Tia suggested when she cuddled up to him.

"Let's see about that once we get back." He replied, not entirely sure how else to reply.

Ayl just looked at her partners dozing off before she casted her detection spell once again, not sensing anything dangerous near their camp.

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(At the tower)

Mirian was looking at the trio with her cauldron once again, having witnessed their fight with the wolves and seeing how a werebear helped them, which surprised her. A werebear helping a human was something unheard of.

"Fufu. That boy will most certainly be fun to play with when he becomes my slave." Mirian mused, already imagining how she will have the boy please her with his body.

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Authors Notes:

Well, HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! Hope everyone enjoyed Christmas and the first few days of 2019.

Here is my latest chapter. Sorry it took so long, but I've been busy for the holidays. Next chapter, Shinji and the others meet the sorceress and find where the missing hunters and Lilia are being held.

Please read and review.

And now... Omakes!

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OMAKE 1

"The last one is mine." Tia said and ran at the last wolf, jumping up high and impaling her spear through it's neck. She turned towards the bear and saw it shaking as it tried to walk to the adventurers.

"It will die soon." Ayl said calmly and coldly.

"I'll save it!" Shinji shouted and was about to run to the bear, only to be stopped by Ayl.

"Shinji, no!" Ayl shouted.

"It helped us, Ayl. I can't just sit back and do nothing." he said as he quickly side-stepped her.

' _Should have just knocked him out_.' she grumbled as he raced over to it. "It'll eat you!"

"I don't think it's going to." Tia said to her friend.

Shinji healed the werebear with his powers.

The werebear emitted a low growl and stared at Shinji, which caused Ayl and Tia to be concerned.

(One hour later)

"I don't understand. How could I have been so wrong?" Ayl wondered to herself as she and Tia were walking behind the werebear who was letting Shinji ride atop its head.

"Well, we did want to let it just die." Tia said. "I guess it's true about what they say, about the life you save. I mean, how many times have we just killed these creatures, or just leave them to die?" she wondered as she watched Shinji and the werebear. "Still, this might be useful."

"If it doesn't turn around and eat us first." Ayl said.

"I'm just worried about what we're gonna do when we get back to Ithalan." Tia said. "You know the Rangers are not going to like having this creature in the city."

"Why couldn't Shinji have saved a wolf? I could understand a wolf. At least they are small." Ayl grumbled.

"ONWARD! TO ADVENTURE!" Shinji shouted like a little kid, causing Tia to giggle a little, Ayl to sweatdrop, and the werebear to roar in agreement.

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OMAKE 2

(Ithalan, capital of Caratharas)

Shinji, Ayl and Tia had returned to the city after rescuing Lilia and the hunters from Mirian. They were trying to get in the gate, but were meeting with a very big problem.

"Absolutely not!" the guard said to them. "There's no way that thing is getting inside the gates!" he pointed at the werebear that towered over them.

"He's not going to just stay put." Tia said. "He'll follow Shinji anywhere."

"I have no idea how to train this thing." Ayl said.

"We can't leave him out here! He'll eat everything that he sees." Shinji said. "Hmm. Where can I get a dog-bowl, and a house? He'll probably hate being chained up. He likes me but he's not going to HEY!" Shinji shouted as the guards began poking the werebear with their spears.

The werebear growled, before smacking away the spears and slamming one of the guards to the ground. The guard was struggling to get up, when the werebear lifted his paw. The guard tried to make a break for it, only for the werebear to slam him down into the ground again. The werebear let out a series of huffs, like it was laughing.

Ayl had a large sweatdrop on her forehead while Lilia and the rescued hunters looked on in surprise.

"He's acting like a big puppy playing with a new toy." the elf maiden said.

"He's not trying to kill anyone." Tia said.

"So can I keep him?" Shinji asked Ayl.

Ayl looked at Shinji like he was crazy. How could he ask her that? For one thing, she had no control over the beast. It didn't like her and it barely listened to Shinji.

"Could someone get this thing off of me?!" the guard shouted underfoot.

"Please?" Shinji begged Ayl again.

"...I need a drink." Ayl groaned.


	12. Old Enemy

_**SHINJIS NEW LIFE  
**_ by Gunman and Reisfriend

Disclaimer: We own nothing.

Summary: Shinji and company encounter their evil abductor.

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Chapter 12  
 **Old Enemy**

2 days.

Shinji and his female friends had been going around the Dark Forest for 2 days straight, looking for tracks that belonged to the people they were looking for.

But so far, they haven't found anything, aside from a few stray black wolves that were cut down by Ayl and Tia. Shinji had stored their bodies in his storage.

While the trio wasn't physically tired thanks to his 'Rest' spell, the mental fatigue of staying awake for 2 days as well as the frustration of not finding anything was taxing for the adventurers. They had stopped to eat some meat and some fruits that looked like guava's, but tasted like apples, which Ayl picked from the trees.

And they had also splashed some cold water on their faces thanks to Shinji's water magic, but it didn't help much.

"I swear that I will sleep for a week when we get back." Ayl whined, walking ahead of her partners.

"I will join you after a stiff drink." Tia added, suppressing her yawn.

"But seriously, why hasn't there being any signs or tracks from the hunters? Almost like someone erased all tracks belonging to them." Shinji said, trying to make some kind sense for the lack of tracks.

"That someone would have to be extremely skilled or a talented magician to do something like that." Ayl retorted.

"How so?" Shinji asked.

"To erase tracks without leaving any tracks of his own or doing so from a distance with magic is very difficult." Tia answered shortly.

Shinji didn't say anything for that answer. Truthfully, he too wanted to find the closest bed and crash. With Hana or Tia in his arms. But he also thought that at least they didn't have to cover their scent with animal excrements like in the movies.

A few hours later the trio stopped to eat once again and rub their eyes, with Shinji using the 'Rest' chant on them and giving them cold water.

Feeling refreshed once again, Ayl spoke up.

"I think we should find a place to set up camp and sleep. Even with Shinji's power, staying awake this long isn't good for us." she said.

"I agree. But won't it be dangerous?" Tia asked.

"Could be with all the wolves and other animals about, but we need to sleep." Ayl answered.

Before anyone could say anything, the trio spotted small creatures that emitted green light flying towards them.

"What the..." Tia said when the creatures came close.

"I don't believe this. Fairy spirits!" Ayl said as she looked at the fairies coming at them.

One of the fairies came in front of Shinji and he took a good look at it. The fairy looked like a naked woman with emerald green butterfly wings with some black in them. The fairy reminded him of a creature he saw in an adventure game he once played.

"No sudden moves everyone." Ayl said, lowering her hands as Tia removed her hand from her spear.

"What are they doing?" Shinji asked as several more fairies came close to him.

"I have no idea. Are they not speaking to you?" Ayl asked.

"No, I don't hear anything." He answered, trying to stay calm.

' _We need your help, champion of Lianna_.' Shinji heard in his head.

He yelped in surprise when he heard the voice in his head. "What the...?" He started until Ayl spoke.

"You heard a voice in your head didn't you?" Shinji nodded to Ayl's question. "Fairies speak to other races like that. But only the ones they are speaking to can hear them. What did they say?"

"They need my help." Shinji replied.

"What kind of help do they want?" Tia asked.

' _One of us is ill and dying. We need your power to save her_.' The fairies spoke again, answering Tia's question to Shinji.

"They say that one of them is dying of an illness and need my power to save her." Shinji told his partners.

"Tell them that you will help them." Ayl recommended.

' _I'll help you_.' Shinji said in his head, hoping that the fairies heard him.

They evidently did, since two fairies appeared, who were carrying another fairy and when they got close to Shinji, he extended his hands and placed them together. The fairies placed the dying fairy on his hands.

The fairy that was now lying on his hands appeared to be gasping for air, like she had trouble breathing.

"Appraise." Shinji said and the status screen appeared over the fairy.

Shinji read the screen, which said that her mana core was damaged and the chant 'Heal' was required.

"It says her mana core is damaged. I hope this works. Heal." Shinji said, having never healed a mana core before, as his healing power coursed into the fairy. The other fairies were circling around Shinji, looking at the young champion helping their kin.

Within a few seconds, the fairy in his hands stood up and started flying around him.

' _Thank you champion_.' He heard the fairies voice thanking him.

Tia and Ayl just looked with wide eyes. To Tia, fairies were just stories since no one had seen fairies for centuries and Ayl thought that she would never see fairies like her mother had over 700 years ago.

' _Please accept our gift_.' The fairies spoke to Shinji again and before he could say anything, the fairies green light surrounded him.

Tia and Ayl wondered what they were doing as their companion was surrounded by the magical light and when it died down, Ayl spoke.

"What did they do Shinji?" She asked him.

"I feel strange." He answered and opened his status screen, which had a new condition: 'Spirits Blessing. Effect: Repels weak attack spells.'

"What did they do?" Tia asked.

"They gave me a blessing that repels weak attack magic directed at me." Shinji told his friends.

Tia gasped from surprise. Another legend she just witnessed with her own eyes. Spirits blessing was another legend of the land that no one had seen. Ayl felt a little jealous that her young apprentice received something like that.

' _Follow me. I will show you where the missing people are_.' He heard the voice again and he told his friends what they said.

"Great! This will save us a lot of time and effort." Ayl said happily as the fairy started to fly deeper into the forest.

They followed the fairy for nearly 3 hours, until they finally reached a clearing with nothing but grass in it.

' _This area is covered by concealment magic. Just walk straight and you will see the place you are looking for_.' The fairy told them and flew away before she could be thanked.

"What did she say, Shinji?" Ayl asked as she looked at the departing fairy.

"She said that concealment magic is being used to cover the place we're looking for." Shinji replied. "We just walk straight ahead."

"Concealment magic? Who is capable of something like that?" Tia asked.

' _I have a bad feeling about this_.' Ayl thought. "I don't know, but let's find out." Ayl said and took a few steps forward and she vanished from Tia's and Shinji's sight.

Tia took Shinjis hand and then followed after Ayl, the pair passing through an invisible field and soon they were looking at a tall tower with a pond next to it. They also noticed that there was a lot of clouds covering the sky. The trio stared at the ominous sight for a few seconds before Ayl spoke.

"So the person who kidnapped the hunters and Lilia is holed up in this tower, that is protected by concealment magic. I can safely say that we are up against a highly skilled magician. And I suspect that person has more surprises in store, so be ready for anything." The elven warrior said.

Before they could say anything, mandalas appeared around the tower and several lizard men emerged from them.

Ayl cursed herself for jinxing them.

"I count eight total." Tia said as she let go of Shinjis hand and gripped her lance.

"They don't have armor or metallic weapons." Shinji said, noticing their large wooden clubs and the large jagged stones that were tied to their clubs. His powers would not be directly useful against them.

The lizardmen were about 6 feet tall, broad and muscular, no clothing on them, with broad and angular features, five digits on their hands that ended in claws, with crocodile-like scales and tails.

"As if they were expecting us?" Tia asked as the lizardmen advanced upon them.

"Whoever it is that captured the hunters and covered this place in concealment magic, could have easily anticipated us. They might have been watching us since we entered the forest." Ayl said as she drew her sword.

"So...what do we do?" Shinji asked as he drew his mithril blades.

"HIIIIIISSSSSS!" The lizardmen screamed as they attacked.

"We fight!" Ayl said as she leapt forward.

"Not like we had a choice." Shinji muttered under his breath.

The lizardmen hurled themselves at the trio, the apparent leader bringing his club down upon the adventurers, causing them to scatter. Ayl jumped left, Shinji and Tia jumped right. Four of them went to Ayl, the other four went to Tia and Shinji. Ayl cursed herself for allowing herself to be separated from her team so easily.

Shinji, not being a fighter like the others, fell back on what he knew. He hurled his blades at the lizardmen and used his metal-controlling powers to fly them around the creatures. He slashed at their skin and weapons, disabling them and slashing at their bodies. He saw that their bodies were healing faster than normal and so he stepped up the attacks until they were forced to back-peddle from him.

Tia gripped her lance and blocked the lizardmen who attacked her. She deflected the club of the first attacker and brought her lance back up to whack the second attacker in the head. She put all of her strength into the attack, knocking the second lizardman down as the first one lunged at her. She jumped into the air to avoid its attempt to sweep her legs, then ducked to avoid it trying to strike at her head. She blocked the attack again and again, before stabbing the creature in the chest with her trident.

Ayl had been forced backwards by the four lizardmen, the quartet trying to surround and overwhelm her. She kept them in front of her, her blade lashing out and striking their clubs in an attempt to disarm them. The first lizardman dove at her in an attempt to tackle her, causing the elf maiden to jump over him. The second lizardman tried to club her as she dove over the first one, only for Ayl to narrowly twist her body to turn and avoid the club. The tricky maneuver however made her lose her footing and she stumbled when she landed. The third lizardman tried to club her as she landed, and Ayl used her sword to block the attack. Being off-balance caused her to fall backwards as the fourth lizardman attacked her. It clubbed at the ground as she rolled to the right. The third lizardman clubbed at the ground as she rolled to the left. She sprang up as quickly as she could, barely missing the third and forth attacks from the lizardmen.

' _I have to end this quick before the other two are on me._ ' She thought as she dashed forward and hit the pair of lizardmen with her sword as quickly as she could. She disabled their weapons first and then slashed at their bodies.

She gasped when she noticed that the other two lizardmen were down. Tia having impaled the first one against a tree and Shinji had used his mithril blades to slash at the other one. The pair had attacked the lizardmen from behind while she was dodging their attacks.

"I would ask if there were any more of them, but I don't want to jinx us." Tia said as she looked around.

"Are you alright, Ayl?" Shinji asked as he put his blades into his sheathes after wiping them clean of lizard blood.

"Fine. Thank you. And I'm glad to see you didn't hesitate, Shinji." Ayl complimented him.

"Well, these lizardmen aren't like the werebear. They were actually trying to kill me." He said.

' _Boy probably would have named the damn bear, given the chance_.' Ayl thought.

"Now what?" Tia asked, looking to see if any more surprises were coming at them.

"Now... we get to the tower." Ayl said.

They hadn't taken even two steps towards the tower, when they saw a creature forming in front of them.

"What the..." Tia said as the creature took shape. A ghostly looking woman made from mist.

"No." Ayl said as she charged fire magic into her sword, ready to fight the mist creature.

"What is that?" Shinji asked, looking at the mist creature in shock.

"A Mist Creature! Don't let it touch you!" Ayl shouted, throwing a fireball at it, but it was useless since it went through the monster without affecting it.

"We have to run. We can't fight it." Tia half shouted to her partners.

"We can't outrun it." Ayl countered, using wind magic in an attempt to blow the creature away.

But wind had little effect as it only reformed itself after Ayl had used her magic.

"I'll hold it off, you run!" Ayl shouted, feeling desperate that the mist creature would kill her and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

The creature started moving towards Ayl, fear gripping the elven warrior but the monster was suddenly frozen in place when it was hit by a freezing wave of magic.

"How.. What..?" Ayl said with a puzzled face and looked at the direction of Tia and Shinji.

Shinji had used his water magic to freeze the creature and then crushed the ice he created, effectively killing the creature.

Tia and Ayl just stared at Shinji in awe. Their young friend had just done something that was thought to be impossible.

"Shinji, how did you do that?" Tia asked.

"I used water magic to create a freezing gust of water, hoping that I could freeze the creature. And I can't believe that it actually worked." Shinji answered, looking relieved that the monster was dead.

Ayl suddenly hugged Shinji. "That was amazing Shinji! No one has ever defeated a mist creature since we didn't know how to kill it or what would be effective against it. But now we know thanks to you." Ayl said as she hugged Shinji as hard as she could.

"Could you let go of me? I can't breathe." Shinji managed to say through gritted teeth, since Ayl's hold over him was so strong.

She released him after she realized that she was putting too much strength in her hug. "Oh, sorry."

Tia took the chance and hugged him from behind.

"I am astonished Shinji. Many people have lost their lives to mist creatures and we had no effective ways of fighting them, but now we know that freezing them kills them. We have to report this to the guild when we get back. You have impressed me once again and I won't forget what I have seen today." Tia said.

"She's right Shinji. Mist creatures have been a plague to every place they have appeared at. I never thought that I would see a dead mist creature." Ayl said, looking at the ice shards that used to be the mist creature.

Shinji felt quite happy that his friends were so impressed with him, though he couldn't tell them that he actually saw a similar situation with a mist creature in an anime back in his world and used the method that the heroine of the story used to kill the creature.

"But enough about this now. Let's proceed." Ayl said, getting a nod from her partners.

The trio walked over to the tower, looking for a way in.

"I don't see any stairs, or rope ladder." Shinji stated.

"The lizardmen came out of a portal... so..." Tia said.

"Whoever sent them is taking precautions." Ayl said. "Which means that if we want to get in..."

The stones at the base of the tower suddenly started to move and shift, rearranging themselves until a door appeared before them. The trio looked at the door and then at each other.

"It's a trap." Shinji said, stating the obvious.

"So why should we..." Tia said.

"We want to find Lilia and the hunters, so we have no choice." Ayl said as she carefully stepped through the door.

"I don't like this." Shinji said.

"Agreed." Tia said as she tentatively followed Ayl.

Shinji was through the door, right before it folded up and closed behind them.

"Shinji, use your darkness magic on us so that we can see." Ayl said.

However, before he could do that, torch lights hanging on the walls sprang up around them.

"Oh! It seems that it's unnecessary." Tia said, her eyes adjusting to the sudden light.

"It's definitely a trap." Shinji said as he pulled his blades from behind his back.

"And we still don't have a choice." Ayl said.

Noticing a staircase leading up, the trio tentatively continued on.

It felt like forever as they ascended the stone staircase, going up level by level.

However, once they reached the top, they paused when they noticed a large and well-lit chamber. Books and skulls and animals decorated the room, with a large cauldron in the center of the room.

"Charming decor." Tia said with sarcasm.

"There!" Shinji said as he raced over to the other side of the room.

Ayl and Tia followed the young man over and gasped when they saw a young woman with short dirty blond hair chained to the wall.

"Looks like the D-ranked archer we were sent to find." Tia said from behind Shinji.

"Appraise." Shinji said as he waved his hands over the woman.

The screen came up and Shinji looked at it in confusion.

"That's strange. This says there isn't anything wrong with her." Shinji said. "She's in good health, no dehydration or sickness or anything. She's just... asleep?"

Ayl bent down on one knee and examined the woman, even opening her eyelids to see her pupils.

"Something is wrong." Ayl said.

"What?" Shinji asked.

"She's under some sort of enchantment." she said.

"Like a trance, or sleeping spell?" Tia asked.

"Yes. She can't move even if she were conscious. So... why is she chained up?" Ayl wondered.

"Because it is a trap." A voice said from behind them.

The trio turned around as they gripped the handles on their weapons. Ayl gasped when she saw who it was.

"Mirian!" Ayl yelled as she pulled her sword from her sheath.

"So nice to see you again, Ayl. I've been looking forward to this." The sorceress said as she lifted her arm up, there was something in the palm of her hand.

"NO!" Ayl shouted and raced towards the woman.

FLASH!

Ayl froze in place, Tia and Shinji also unable to move.

Mirian smiled as she lowered her hand.

"This lovely little trinket was hard to come by, but very worth it. The Paralysis Spell only lasts a few seconds, but more than enough for me to do this." She said as she pulled out another trinket and it glowed as waves of hypnotic energy washed over the trio. Their eye colors changed for a second, before they glowed brightly and then resorted to their original color. "It took me years to find this hypnosis trinket. Timing is also very important. And of course, it only works if the people and creatures I'm hypnotizing have their eyes open." She said as the effects of the Paralysis Spell wore off. However, the minds of her targets were now fully ensnared.

Mirian walked over to Shinji and stroked his face.

"This one is very cute, Ayl. My compliments for finding such an attractive apprentice. And I'm told he's quite powerful as well. Yes, you will all make a find addition to my guard." she said.

' _Damn you, Mirian! I'll get you for this_!' Ayl cursed inside her own mind, her body powerless to resist.

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Authors Notes:

Well, here's chapter 12 of my story with Reisfriend. Hope everyone likes it. Been very busy with my other works, which I hope to update soon.

The Lizardmen were based upon the ones from the anime Overlord. Just FYI.

Please enjoy this latest chapter, and as always, please read and review, after you read these two new omakes.

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OMAKE 1

' _I'll help you_.' Shinji said in his head, hoping that the fairies heard him.

They evidently did, since two fairies appeared, who were carrying another fairy and when they got close to Shinji, he extended his hands and placed them together. The fairies placed the dying fairy on his hands.

The fairy that was now lying on his hands appeared to be gasping for air, like she had trouble breathing.

"Appraise." Shinji said and the status screen appeared over the fairy.

Shinji read the screen, which said that her mana core was damaged and the chant 'Heal' was required.

"It says her mana core is damaged. I hope this works. Heal." Shinji said as his healing power coursed into the fairy. The other fairies were circling around Shinji, looking at the young champion helping their kin.

Within a few seconds, the fairy in his hands stood up and started flying around him.

' _Thank you champion_.' He heard the fairies voice thanking him.

Tia and Ayl just looked with wide eyes. To Tia, fairies were just stories since no one had seen fairies for centuries and Ayl thought that she would never see fairies like her mother had over 700 years ago.

' _Please accept our gift_.' The fairies spoke to Shinji again and before he could say anything, the fairies all converged on him, quickly coming together into a green swirling mass of light.

The light intensified and then exploded. When Shinji, Ayl and Tia were able to see, they gasped, seeing a tall and beautiful woman with fairy wings, naked as the day she was born, hovering right in front of Shinji.

Shinji said nothing as he just stared at the woman. Tia and Ayl were feeling very envious of the fairy woman, who had curves in all the right places.

"You have saved me, Champion of Lianna. For that, you have my thanks." the fairy woman said as she leaned in and kissed Shinji full on the lips, her arms wrapped around his neck to deep her kiss. Shinji could feel that she was sticking her tongue down his throat.

Ayl and Tia were shaken out of their stupor and rushed over to the pair, pushing the fairy woman off as she suddenly exploded in a ball of light, once again becoming several individual fairies.

The fairies quickly disbursed, and Shinji swore he heard all of them giggling as they left.

"Cheeky fairies!" Tia shouted angrily.

Ayl, however, just stared at her apprentice.

"What is it with you?" the elf maiden asked the twice-blessed young man.

Shinji just shrugged his shoulders at his mentor.

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OMAKE 2

"Something is wrong." Ayl said.

"What?" Shinji asked.

"She's under some sort of enchantment."

"Like a trance, or sleeping spell?" Tia asked.

"Yes. She can't move even if she were conscious. So... why is she chained up?" Ayl wondered.

"Because live-bait is the best for a trap." A voice said from behind them.

The trio turned around as they gripped the handles on their weapons. Ayl gasped when she saw who it was.

"Mirian!" Ayl yelled as she pulled her sword from her sheath.

"So nice to see you again, Ayl. I've been looking forward to this." The sorceress said as she lifted her arm up, there was something in the palm of her hand.

"NO!" Ayl shouted and raced towards the woman.

FLASH!

Ayl froze in place, Tia and Shinji also unable to move.

Mirian smiled as she lowered her hand.

"This lovely little medallion was hard to come by, but very worth it. The Paralysis Spell only lasts a few seconds, but more than enough for me to do this." She said as she lifted her other hand, a strange black ring on her middle finger, which opened up to reveal a red eyeball, which glowed as waves of hypnotic energy washed over the trio. Their eye colors changed for a second, before they glowed brightly and then resorted to their original color. "It took me years to find The Hypnotic Ring of Saruman. Timing is also very important. And of course, it only works if the people and creatures I'm hypnotizing have their eyes open." She said as the effects of the Paralysis Spell wore off. However, the minds of her targets were now fully ensnared.

She caressed Shinji's face as she looked at him.

"This one is very cute, Ayl. My compliments for finding such an attractive apprentice. And I'm told he's quite powerful as well. Yes, you will all make a find addition to my guard." she said as she looked at the elf maiden.

"Sorry, but I already have a job." Shinji suddenly said as he suddenly punched her in the gut.

"UHH!" Mirian felt the wind knocked out of her as she dropped to the ground.

He looked at Tia and Ayl as he raised his hands.

"Dispel!" he said as the magics that were affecting both the quarter-vampire and elf maiden were removed.

The pair gasped when they felt fully in control of their bodies.

"Good work, Shinji!" Tia said as Ayl pounced on Mirian.

"But... how? How did you resist my spell?" Mirian asked once she was tied up.

"Spirit Blessing from the fairies. It can repel weak magical attacks." Shinji explained as he awoke Lilia from the sleeping spell she was under.

"Your Paralysis Spell only works for a few seconds, so it was still considered a weak magic spell." Ayl said as she tightly bound Mirian with more rope.

"OW!" the sorceress squawked. "That hurts!"

"I suppose this will have to do until we get you back to Ithalan to stand trial." Ayl said.


	13. Settling The Score

_**SHINJI'S NEW LIFE  
**_ By Gunman and Reisfriend

Disclaimer: Nothing is owned by us.

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Chapter 13  
 **Settling The Score**

"Urgh!" Ayl groaned when she opened her eyes. Her neck and shoulders felt stiff and her throat was parched. She tried to move her hands, but then she felt that her arms and legs were chained to the wall of the tower where her old enemy Mirian was holed up.

' _Crap. She took us by surprise and immobilized us with that trinket_.' Ayl thought, recalling what happened before she passed out for some reason.

She looked around the room and saw the missing hunters just standing there with their bows and Lilia was standing at the doorway. Tia and Shinji were nowhere to be seen.

' _Where did she take Shinji and Tia?_ ' Ayl wondered in her head.

Ayl then tried to use her fire magic to cut the chains holding her, but her magic didn't activate.

' _What the...?_ ' She wondered, before she felt something on her neck. The object around her neck felt like a collar. ' _Shit! A magic prevention collar. I really hate these things_.' She thought as she recalled the times when she was captured before and every time her abductors placed the said collar on her to make escaping more difficult.

Then she heard a loud KRANK when another door opened to the chamber. She looked at the direction of the sound and saw Mirian, along with her friends coming over to her. Shinji was carrying a small chair with him. She also noted that their eyes were still lifeless.

"Morning Ayl, I trust you had an unpleasant rest." Mirian said mockingly while Shinji placed the chair a few feet away from Ayl.

"You better kill me right now, Mirian! Because when these chains come off, I will kill you!" Ayl declared angrily.

"Too bad for you then, because those chains are not coming off. I even undid the hypnosis on you so you would feel everything I'm going to do to you, since you know that hypnotized people won't feel any pain. And you really should have killed me all those years ago, because now I will vent all my frustration and anger on you for the pain you put me through and for halting my plans for years. Considering what I'm going to do to you, I'd say your precious Vanir got off easy." Mirian said with a sadistic smile.

"TCH! Don't speak his name!" Ayl shouted in anger.

"Oh, that struck a nerve. But before we begin all the unpleasantness, have a seat Shinji." Mirian said and Shinji sat down on the chair. And then Mirian sat on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I really have to thank you for bringing me Tia and Shinji. Tia will make a fine bodyguard and Shinji will be a fine right-hand man. Just last night, I had Shinji give me a bath and heal all my scars and injuries with his Goddess-given powers and used him as my hug pillow. His skin felt really good. And of course his powers over metal will be a great asset for me. And not only that, he is also very smart, considering how he figured out how to kill a Mist Creature. It was a pain to bind one to my will, but I had no idea that they could be killed." Mirian continued, stroking Shinji face.

' _Get away from him you bitch!_ ' Tia shouted in her mind, her body refusing to do anything, hating that she was this helpless against some woman from the demon race.

Lilia felt despair. Even more of her fellow adventurers were enslaved by their common enemy and no help would be coming anymore.

Ayl glared at Mirian, hoping that the chains would come off even for one second so she could kill Mirian.

"Ayl, indulge me for a bit. Where did you find Shinji? I had no idea that a male this cute even existed. Come on, tell me tell me, where did you find him? Was it a fateful encounter somewhere on the road?" Mirian asked mockingly.

Ayl pulled on the chains with an angry look on her face.

"Fufufu. You really want to kill me, don't you Ayl? Too bad, since you won't get the chance. But smile for a bit now would you? Since before this day is over, you will see your precious Vanir again. Or maybe I'll have Shinji resuscitate you when you're dead and start the pain all over again. But don't worry about your friends, I'll take good care of them. And I will also treasure your Cloak of Disguise, preserving the fond memory of my greatest enemy." Mirian said and got up from Shinji's lap. She came close to Ayl and grabbed her breasts hard. "This is one of the reasons I hate you so much. Big breasted women always get what they want when they make these meatsacks jiggle for a bit. I really wish that I could possess your body so I could finally have big breasts. And longevity." She spat at Ayl and slapped her breasts hard, to which Ayl didn't even flinch, but Ayl spat in her eyes.

Mirian wiped the spit from her eyes and glared at the elf.

"Time to start Ayl." She pulled out a trinket from her pocket, which was made from copper, shaped like a star and had a red jewel in the middle. "I have yet to try this trinket on anyone, so you get the honor of being it's first victim. It causes pain by sound to anyone it's directed at." Mirian explained as she pointed the trinket at Ayl.

"You...HYYAAAAARRRHHH!" Ayl screamed in pain when the soundwave from the trinket hit her, feeling like something exploded inside her skull.

Ayl's head slumped down and she panted. The pain was even worse then 10 Screechers attacking at the same time.

"How did you like that Ayl? Shall we try again?" Mirian asked as she pointed the trinket at her again.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" Ayl screamed again when the sound hit her, her elf ears turning purple because of the ruptured blood vessels.

"Ouch, that must have hurt. But this trinket certainly has a lovely effect on those with sensitive ears. But what should we do next? Maybe have these hunters skin you, starting from your toes. Or maybe I'll cut off your pointlessly huge boobs. I'm an amateur when it comes to cutting off body parts so it could get messy. Maybe I'll use one of those mithril blades that my cute Shinji has." Mirian thought out loud.

' _Is this how all this ends?_ ' Ayl thought as she panted from the pain, feeling desperate that there was no help coming and she was completely under Mirian's mercy.

"Hey now, don't pass out on me yet Ayl." Mirian said as she grabbed Ayl's hair and pulled her head up. "We only just started and there is a whole lot more to come. I just can't decide what to do to you next. Any suggestions Ayl?" Mirian asked.

Before they could say anything, Mirian and Ayl saw the paralysis, hypnosis and the sound trinket floating in front of them.

"What the...?" Mirian managed to say before they were cut in half and crushed by an invisible force. "NO!" Mirian shouted and then she saw that the collar on Ayl's neck fell off and the chains on her arms and legs were also unlocked. Ayl reacted to the chance immediately and head butted Mirian on the nose, hearing a bloody crack as Mirian's nose broke.

"ACH!" Mirian screamed from the pain as she fell down.

Ayl looked at Shinji's direction and saw him holding out his left hand while his right hand was on his head. Tia and the others had collapsed, unconscious. Shinji then collapsed on his knees.

"SHINJI!" Ayl shouted as she ran to him.

"Recovery." Shinji said as he used his healing power on the headache he had.

"Are you okay?" Ayl asked as she kneeled next to Shinji, holding on to his shoulders.

"I'll be fine. I just feel worn out." He answered and suddenly reached out and placed his hands on her ears. "Recovery." He said and healed her ears which turned back to their original color when the blood vessels healed.

"Ah!" Ayl moaned in pleasure when the healing power surged into her and the pain in her ears vanished.

Before she could say anything more, Shinji lost consciousness and Ayl heard footsteps behind her. She turned to look and saw Mirian running away.

Ayl sprang up and ran after her through the door, which lead further up the tower.

"THERE'S NO ESCAPE MIRIAN!" Ayl shouted after the sorceress.

' _Damn you Ayl_!' Mirian thought angrily as she ran up the stairs, feeling her lungs already burning, since she wasn't athletic like her nemesis.

Mirian forced open the door that lead to the roof of the tower, only now realizing that she just ran into a dead end.

"Shit!" She cursed herself.

"Mirian, give it up!" Ayl said, standing at the door as Mirian turned around, blood still dripping from her nose.

"Curse you Ayl!" Mirian shouted as she threw a fireball at Ayl, who deflected it with her wind magic.

"No use Mirian, my magic has always been more powerful then yours." Ayl said as she started walking towards Mirian.

"That's Only Because You're OLDER!" Mirian shouted as she tried to hurl another fireball at Ayl, but instead Ayl threw her own fireball and hit her in the hand. "AAAHHHH!" She screamed as the fireball burned her hand.

"This is where it ends for you Mirian." Ayl said with a determined angry look in her eyes as she threw a first punch to her face, blood flying out of her mouth.

"GUH!" Mirian coughed as Ayl kept punching and kicking her in the head and torso. Mirian collapsed on the floor, dripping blood from the cuts Ayl inflicted on her.

Ayl paused her assault and grabbed her by her collar.

"I thought you were dead from the last time we met." She said as he kneed Mirian in the ribs. "But I'm actually glad that you are alive, because now I can give you the death that you deserve. And avenge Vanir properly." She said as she kneed her again.

"Even if you do that, you will always remember me as the one who took your loved one away from you. Even if you kill me, I will always linger on in your memory. You will never be completely free of me." Mirian wheezed at Ayl with a scornful smirk.

Ayl reeled back and punched her in the jaw, dislocating it with an audible crack. Mirian rolled on to her stomach, holding her jaw in pain.

"You might be right. But at least I get the satisfaction of knowing that you died without achieving your goals, whatever they are. And everyone you have ever killed will finally be avenged. And did you know that there is a price on your head, even though I reported you dead years ago? Rangers thought that you weren't dead because I didn't bring any evidence. But now I will bring your head to them and collect the reward of 300 gold coins."

The elven warrior then grabbed Mirian's black hair and dragged her to the edge of the roof and pulled her up. Grabbing her cloak and dangling her over the edge, Mirian looked behind her and gasped in terror at the distance between the roof and the ground.

Just then Shinji and Tia ran up to the roof from the door to look at the spectacle.

"Ayl!" Shinji shouted.

"Don't try to stop me Shinji. She deserves this and much worse." Ayl replied, not looking at the pair.

Tia held Shinji back, stopping him from running to Ayl. He did sense a small piece of metal on Mirian, though it wasn't enough to stop her from falling to her death if Ayl dropped the sorceress.

"Let's take her to the Rangers so she can be properly punished for her crimes!" Shinji shouted, trying to appeal to Ayl's sense of justice.

Ayl turned to look at Shinji. "She is far too..." Ayl started, but stopped when she felt something pierce her stomach, which made her lose her grip on Mirian's cloak and the sorceress fell down.

Tia and Shinji rushed to Ayl and saw that she had a knife in her stomach. Tia pulled out the knife and Shinji appraised Ayl, seeing that she was poisoned by the knife.

Quickly using 'Cure' and 'Recovery' on his mentor once again, Ayl rose up when the pain faded. She looked over the edge and saw Mirians body at the ground, lying there on the pool blood.

Ayl slumped down on her knees and said: "It's finally over."

Tia and Shinji just looked at their leader, seeing how she looked up at the sky with a melancholic face.

"Ayl..." Shinji said, feeling worried about his mentor.

"Leave us Tia. I want to talk with Shinji alone." Ayl said, not looking at her partners.

Tia wanted to protest at first, but decided to keep quiet and walked back to the door which lead back to the chamber where the hunters and Lilia were.

Shinji sat down next to Ayl, wondering what she was going to say.

"She was far too dangerous to be kept alive and transport back to Ithalan." Ayl said.

"But Ayl, you're better then this." Shinji said.

"Am I? I have killed many in my life. Both men and women. But in the eyes of the law, they were guilty and they deserved death for their crimes. Even if we somehow managed to transport Mirian back to Ithalan alive, she would have been executed anyway. But before the execution happened, she would have had time to plan an escape. And the warrant on her said that she is wanted dead." Ayl said.

"It just feels wrong." Shinji said.

"I don't know how things are done in your world Shinji, but you have to accept the fact that in this world, things are done differently. Criminals like Mirian are to be killed on sight because they are too dangerous, some of them even more so when they are imprisoned. This is the way it has been ever since the kingdom was founded and the people are not going to change their way of thinking just because you don't like the way things are done. The sooner you accept it, the better. It could even save your life." Ayl lectured.

"You might be right Ayl, but I have never killed another human before." Shinji said, feeling that he had disappointed his mentor.

"You have nothing to be ashamed about Shinji. Killing is not an easy skill, especially when it comes to your first kill. When I killed my first human opponent, it was either me or him. That made the decision easier. And so far you haven't had to kill anyone, but I just hope that when that time comes for you, you won't hesitate. Your death would be devastating to me and Hana." Ayl said.

"I'll get used to it. Though it might take some time." Shinji said after he mulled it over, not wanting to cause more worry for his mentor, since she was right once again. And in this world, kill or be killed was more common then in his previous world and if he ended up in a situation where he has to kill someone, his opponent most likely wouldn't hesitate. And then he would cause grief for Hana and he didn't want that.

This world reminded Shinji of the old world often spoken of in history books. Ancient times when superstition and the sword ruled, and kill-or-be-killed was more common than rule-by-law.

They sat there for a few minutes in silence before Ayl spoke again.

"How did you break free from the hypnosis Shinji?" she asked.

"When Mirian started torturing you, I thought that I might be able to use 'Dispel' to lift the hypnosis and to my surprise it worked." He answered.

"I'm glad that it did Shinji. I didn't want Mirian to get the last laugh." Ayl said glumly.

"She mentioned Vanir. Who was he?" Shinji asked suddenly, but he immediately thought that it was a bad idea.

"Vanir was my childhood friend and lover whom Mirian killed. 14 years ago." Ayl answered bluntly and sadly.

"I'm sorry Ayl." Shinji said after a few seconds. He didn't think before that Ayl might have a personal grudge against Mirian, but now he understood why she wanted the sorceress dead.

"I might tell you the full story later Shinji, but for now, let's prepare to leave this place." Ayl said as she rose up and started walking to the door with Shinji following, though he was kicking himself mentally. Was he in any place to argue with a 188-year old veteran adventurer about the logic of this world where things worked differently? He was only 15 years old and he had been in this world for nearly a month. His experiences were far different than Ayls. And where would he be right now if he hadn't met Ayl at the Hearth Inn?

Walking back to the chamber where the hunters and Lilia were just regaining consciousness, Tia was looking at the books with interest. The hunters and Lilia were holding their heads in pain and Shinji went over to use 'Recovery' on them. When he was done with the hunters, who were all grateful to him, he went over to Lilia and healed her.

The archer looked at Shinji and stared at him intently.

"Who are you?" she asked the young man.

"I am Shinji Ikari from the Adventurers Guild. That's my mentor Ayl and our partner Tia. The guildmaster had Krulcifer give us the quest of finding you and the missing hunters." Shinji answered.

Lilia looked at Shinji with calculative eyes. His dark brown hair looked smooth and silky and his eyes were grey-blue and his face was well-shaped, almost like a heart, he had a lean body which looked fit and he was slightly taller then she was.

' _WHOA! Where has this cutie being all my life!?_ ' Lilia shouted in her mind. "Nice to meet you Shinji. I am Lilia Kranjcar. And thank you for saving me. I already thought that I was done for when that Mirian hypnotized all of you. But then you broke the hypnosis and freed us. That was very impressive. Where is that witch by the way?" Lilia asked after she introduced herself.

"She is dead. She and Ayl were fighting on the roof, and she stabbed Ayl, causing her to release her and fall to her death." Shinji answered.

"Good. Saved me the trouble of killing her myself. And I could really use a drink." Lilia said, her throat feeling parched. "Thirsty."

"There is a kitchen over there if you want water." Tia called out from the desk where she was examining a journal Mirian had kept on her research.

Lilia ran to the direction Tia had pointed, the hunters following her. Shinji decided to go with them.

In the kitchen, which had an iron stove, wood cabinets, barrels of water and some kitchenware. Lilia and the hunters were eagerly drinking the water in the barrels with tankards they had found.

"Didn't Mirian give you any water or food when you were hypnotized?" Shinji asked.

"Once every two days." One of the hunters answered after he had gulped down the water in his tankard.

"Well, take your time here." Shinji said and went back to Tia.

Walking over to Tia, who was reading the journal, Shinji noticed that the page had writing about the hypnosis trinket.

On the page it said that if the victim of the hypnosis trinket is forcibly released, they might faint from the shock, the length of unconsciousness depending on how strong the victim was and how long they have been under the hypnosis. And while the victims minds were still free, they couldn't control their bodies. The victims bodies responded only to the wielder of the trinket and they couldn't use magic without permission from the wielder of the trinket.

"How did you break the hypnosis Shinji?" Tia asked when Shinji finished reading the page.

"I used 'Dispel'. And I think that since my healing powers aren't magic, I could use it. My powers are more like divine power, I think." Shinji answered.

"I see. Then we got very lucky on this one." Tia said.

"Yes, I didn't want to be enslaved forever by that witch." Shinji said.

Before anything more could be said, they heard loud screeching from the cage where the giant bat creature was.

Shinji saw how Ayl used one of her greater fire magic spells to completely incinerate the giant bat, leaving only ash on the floor of the cage.

At first Shinji wanted to say something about killing the bat, but figured that Ayl would just have another good reason for doing it and he would feel like a naive idiot once again.

Ayl picked up the sack next to her feet and turned to Shinji.

"Shinji, open the Darkness storage." she said.

Shinji looked at the sack she had and there was blood dripping from the bottom.

"What's in the sack?"

"Mirian's head. This time I'll have proof that she is dead." Ayl answered.

While Shinji was busy healing the hunters and Lilia and Tia was examining the journal, Ayl found the switch to open the door to the tower and went to the ground level to chop off Mirian's head as proof of the kill and incinerate the body so it wouldn't attract wolves or other monsters.

He decided to just keep quiet and open the storage. Ayl just tossed the sack in the mandala and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you. And now, Tia, let's start gathering everything up to put in Shinji's storage."

"Why?" Shinji asked, not seeing the point of taking everything.

"Because we can't leave all these books and other things for someone else to find. We take them to the Guild and receive compensation for all of these potentially dangerous items." Tia answered.

"Oh, right." Shinji said, feeling like an idiot.

"I'll help you." Lilia called out from the door that lead to the kitchen.

"Thank you. We can finish this faster with your help Lilia. Now then, pick up everything: books, trinkets, weapons, clothes, anything potentially dangerous." Ayl instructed and they started the task.

For the next 4 hours, the adventurers scoured every nook and cranny of the tower and brought everything to the chamber. Spell books and research notes, regular weapons and arrows, a fire magic staff, a trinket that could turn people into stone (which Shinji destroyed with his power on Ayl's order), a cloak that hides the wearers scent and some normal clothes.

"That seems to be everything that could be dangerous. But now we have only a few hours of daylight left, so what do you want to do? Shall we head to the Hunter's Inn now or do we wait until morning before we head out?" Ayl asked her fellow adventurers and the hunters.

"I suggest that we wait until morning. If we leave at first light, we can reach the Inn just at sundown if we don't make any stops on the way." The eldest hunter, named Kirov, voiced his opinion.

"I agree. We should eat and rest up and leave at first light." Lilia said.

The other hunters also agreed with the plan.

"Very well then. We eat and sleep and leave at first light." Ayl said, accepting the plan. Tia and Shinji didn't mind the plan either, since they just wanted to eat and rest.

Ayl was looking around the tower one more time to make sure they didn't miss anything as night began to drape it's cloak over the sky. Shinji was cooking what little food supplies Mirian had in her stores. Which wasn't much, since the sorceress obviously wasn't too concerned about her guards health and well-being. The five hunters were actually quick to do some hunting of their own, to at least make it through the night until they could get back to the Hunters Inn.

They managed to get a deer and a couple of rabbits before the sun went down. Kirov and the other hunters skinned the animals and diced them up for the young adventurer to cook.

Lilia actually watched as Shinji cooked. It was a little known fact that Shinji actually enjoyed cooking as it helped set his mind at ease. He hadn't told Ayl everything about his life, like his living with Misato and Asuka, but cooking wasn't something they were particularly good at or willing to do. Were it not for him they probably would be ordering takeout everyday. PenPen could have lived off sardines and beer, but not him. He still wondered how Misato survived before he arrived.

The group was relaxed for the first time in days while enjoying their dinner that Shinji cooked. Ayl wasn't standing the watch tonight, since the tower was quite well protected. No wolves would try and get in here. She and Tia talked to the hunters to get a firm report on everything that had happened to them as they were eating the deer stew Shinji made.

"That was delicious!" Lilia said to Shinji after she had finished her portion of the stew.

"Thank you. How are you feeling, Miss Kranjcar?" He asked.

"Call me Lilia. I don't like formalities." She said with a smile. "And a lot better now that you and your friends have dealt with that witch."

"You're welcome, Miss Lilia." he said.

Lilia smiled at how he addressed her.

"So Shinji, how did you and Ayl meet, if you don't mind me asking? I've heard of her and Tia, but I've never seen them take on a partner before." she said.

"I met Ayl a few weeks ago at the Hearth Inn. I was new to Ithalan." Shinji replied, eating his stew.

"Where are you from?" Lilia asked.

Shinji looked at her curiously before he replied.

"I'm from Arcadia, from the town of Lille." He answered, looking away from her.

"From Lille? You are a survivor of the tsunami?" Lilia asked.

"I am. My family died because of it." Shinji said.

"Oh! I'm so sorry." Lilia said, feeling bad for prying.

"I was too. Anyway, I left Arcadia to try and make a new life for myself and came to Caratharas, I met Ayl at the Hearth Inn while traveling to Ithalan." Shinji continued his fabricated tale.

Suddenly, the spoon Shinji was using to eat the stew slipped from his hand and fell to the floor, but he quickly stretched out his hand, causing the spoon to pause in mid-air before hitting the ground. He levitated it back up to his hand with ease. Lilia stared in shock at what she saw.

"How did you do that?" She asked when she got over the surprise.

Shinji cursed himself for revealing his abilities to her, even if it was an accident.

"Well, I have the full blessing of the God Metal and the Goddess of Healing." He answered, feeling that he couldn't hide it from her and she wasn't going to let it go.

Lilia gasped, her eyes going wide at hearing that.

"You... really?" She asked, now thinking he was even more interesting. "You have the full blessings of two gods?" She gasped.

"It was kind of a shock, but I discovered that I could control metal when a group of bandits attacked me at the Inn. Ayl and a Ranger named Brighid pretty much saved my life that day, since I wasn't used to my powers yet." He said with some pride. "I later found out that I had the blessings of the two gods, and I've been using them as much as possible to help who I can."

"Really? What can you do with those powers?" Lilia asked, now very interested in her fellow adventurer.

Shinji started telling her what he has done with his powers so far. With metal powers, he destroyed a mithril golem, killed a bunch of goblins with the shards of the said golem, made weapons at the forge, including his mithril blades and made weapons fly and kill enemies. With healing powers, he cured Hana's conditions, he also mentioned how he healed and cured sick people at the clinic when Ayl was training him, and how he saved Ayl's life when they were heading to Ithalan along with the caravan guards who were injured. He decided to leave the werebear and the fairies out of the story.

Lilia just listened as he told her what he had done with his divine powers, staring at him with an amazed expression. "That is just incredible Shinji. I can't believe that someone like you existed and I even got to meet you."

Shinji felt flattered by her praise. If it wasn't for her voice and name, he would have mistaken Lilia for a boy, since she had small breasts that were barely noticeable from the leather armor she was wearing, her hair was short and her face gave off a tomboy-impression. But all in all, he thought that Lilia was very cute girl. Before he could say anything, Lilia continued.

"By the way Shinji, would it be alright with you if I joined your party?" she asked.

"I don't mind, but you have to talk to Ayl about it, since she is the leader." Shinji replied.

"Oh, okay. And if you don't mind me asking, do you have a special someone?" Lilia asked, hoping that he said no.

"Well, Hana of the Silver Eagle Inn is my lover, and Tia is trying to make me fall in love with her because she wants me as her husband." He answered honestly.

When Lilia heard the answer, she got surprised and shocked.

' _So Tia and Hana are rivals are they?.'_ she thought to herself, knowing who Hana was. _'But I won't give up, I'll definitely get closer to this cutie and finally get a lover for myself_.'

"Is something wrong Lilia?" Shinji asked, the look on her face confusing Shinji.

"Nothing. But if Ayl accepts me into her party, then would it be alright if we spend time together and get to know each other a bit better?" Lilia said hopefully.

"Of course, I would like that." Shinji replied, to which Lilia smiled cutely.

Ayl and Tia were watching the pairs interactions with mixed interest.

' _Looks like Shinji has another interested party_.' Ayl thought as she slowly ate her stew, her appetite being low at the moment.

' _The archer is already interested in Shinji?_ ' Tia thought. ' _Now I must step up my attempts to gain his favor. Maybe I should... at the Inn..._ ' Tia blushed as she imagined the scenario with Shinji in bed, her face turning red and her legs tensing up at the idea of doing it with him.

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Authors Notes:

Big thanks to Reisfriend for writing up the majority of this while I edit and add stuff.

We will have more chapters in store for everyone in future, but please be patient, these take time to get out. And we both have projects to work on, as well as our usual day-jobs.

Please read and review, and enjoy these omakes.

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Omake 1

Shinji collapsed on the bed after getting back to the Silver Eagle Inn from work and having taken a hot shower thanks to his water powers.

"Another hectic day." Shinji mumbled against the pillow.

His fans: Ayl, Hana, Brighid, Rei, Tia and Mirian had once again wrecked the shop when they started quarreling. Mirian and Ayl were the worst since they had magical abilities.

"Why can't they just take turns meeting me?" Shinji mumbled again against the pillow.

Then suddenly he felt someone jump on his back.

"GUF!" He groaned against the pillow.

"I caught you Shinji." He turned his head and barely saw that it was Hana who had jumped him.

"Hana, what are you doing?" He asked.

"I came over to apologize for the trouble we caused you today, and to give you a massage." She replied.

"You don't have to. I just want to sleep." Shinji protested.

"Don't worry, You'll sleep a whole lot better after my massage." She countered and started to rub his back.

"Aaaahhhh." Shinji moaned as she massaged his back.

"Fufu, does it feel good Shinji?" Hana asked as she continued to rub him.

"I had no idea you were this good, please continue." Shinji said, feeling good and sleepy.

Hana just continued to rub him and it wasn't long until he had fallen asleep. She turned him over onto his back and snuggled up close to him.

' _Thank you for helping Auntie_.' Hana thought as she got comfortable and fell asleep.

(Outside the Inn)

Juna Doma, Hana's aunt, was standing outside the Inn with two dozen mercenaries stopping Shinji's other fans from getting in.

"Get out of our way Juna. We too want to apologize to Shinji and make him feel good!" Brighid shouted at the songstress.

"Nope. You are all obstacles between my niece and her happiness, so you won't be getting in today. So leave now or you are all banned from my Inn." Juna said, smiling at her niece's rivals.

"Grr! Fine." Brighid huffed as she and the other women walked away.

"I can't believe that Hana got the jump on us." Rei stated.

"Hana is surprisingly crafty. Getting ahead of us like this." Tia added. "Especially with her Aunt helping her."

"Are we going to let her get away with this?" Ayl asked.

"Of course not. When she comes out of there, we punish her." Mirian said.

"What did you have in mind?" Brighid asked.

Mirian pulled out a bottle of lotion and a feather. "This lotion will make anyone hypersensitive." Mirian said as she waved the feather.

The women grinned as they got the idea. "Hana, be prepared for an unpleasant punishment." Mirian said as they looked at the Inn where their rival was sleeping with Shinji.

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Omake 2

"I really have to thank you for bringing me Tia and Shinji. Tia will make a fine bodyguard and Shinji will be a fine right-hand man. Just last night, I had Shinji give me a bath and heal all my scars and injuries with his Goddess-given powers and used him as my hug pillow. His skin felt really good. And of course his powers over metal will be a great asset for me. And not only that, he is also very smart, considering how he figured out how to kill a Mist Creature. It was a pain to bind one to my will, but I had no idea that they could be killed." Mirian continued, stroking Shinji face.

' _Get away from him you bitch!_ ' Tia shouted in her mind, her body refusing to do anything, hating that she was this helpless against some woman from the demon race.

Lilia felt despair. Even more of her fellow adventurers were enslaved by their common enemy and no help would be coming anymore.

Ayl glared at Mirian, hoping that the chains would come off even for one second so she could kill Mirian.

"Ayl, indulge me for a bit. Where did you find Shinji? I had no idea that a male this cute even existed. Come on, tell me tell me, where did you find him? Was it a fateful encounter somewhere on the road?" Mirian asked mockingly.

Ayl pulled on the chains with an angry look on her face.

"Fufufu. You really want to kill me, don't you Ayl? Too bad, since you won't get the chance. But smile for a bit now would you? Since before this day is over, you will see your precious Vanir again. Or maybe I'll have Shinji resuscitate you when you're dead and start the pain all over again. But don't worry about your friends, I'll take good care of them. And I will also treasure your Cloak of Disguise, preserving the fond memory of my greatest enemy." Mirian said and got up from Shinji's lap. She came close to Ayl and grabbed her breasts hard. "This is one of the reasons I hate you so much. Big breasted women always get what they want when they make these meatsacks jiggle for a bit. I really wish that I could possess your body so I could finally have big breasts. And longevity." She spat at Ayl and slapped her breasts hard, to which Ayl didn't even flinch, but Ayl spat in her eyes.

Mirian wiped the spit from her eyes and glared at the elf.

"Time to start Ayl." She pulled out a trinket from her pocket, which was made from copper, shaped like a star and had a red jewel in the middle. "I have yet to try this trinket on anyone, so you get the honor of being it's first victim. It causes pain by sound to anyone it's directed at." Mirian explained as she pointed the trinket at Ayl.

She paused, however, when she realized something.

"On second thought, I have a better idea." she grinned wickedly. "Shinji, Tia... come over here... and tickle Ayl!"

Ayl's eyes went wide as she looked at her friends as they approached her.

"No. No! NO! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" Ayl cried out before the pair began tickling her. "AHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAA!"

"Stop." Mirian said and the pair stopped tickling her. "Before I kill you, Ayl, I want the secret to your big breasts."

"What?" she gasped.

"I want to know how you get so big. And don't tell me they are an elf-borne gift."

"I'm not going to..."

"Tickle her again."

"AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" she screamed.

"Stop." she said simply.

"Okay. Okay. Okay. I'll talk." Ayl huffed and wheezed.

Mirian wrote down everything that Ayl said, the ingredients and the recipe that her grandmother had originally discovered centuries ago, and passed on to the women in her family.

"With this, I can finally make my breast grow and I will make a killing selling this secret to women who want to make their breasts grow!" she cried in triumph.

She kept laughing so much, she didn't notice Shinji putting his right hand to his head while his left hand was positioned to the other trinkets that Mirian possessed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Omake 3

Shinji and Rei groaned as they once again dragged an unconscious Misato back to town.

Asuka was carrying the treasures they had liberated from the Goblin King. She apparently thought that the treasure was worth more than her teammates.

They arrived at the Silver Eagle Inn after reporting their progress to The Guild. The mission had been a success, and they had the head of the Goblin King as proof, stored in the Darkness Storage that Shinji utilized a lot.

Fuyutsuki was using his divining powers to see the past, present and future of a client.

Ritsuko was using her transmuting powers to transform matter several bricks of lead into gold to help out another client. She would get half in exchange.

Hikari the evoker was telling Shigeru the bard about how she used her power to summon and control the elements to save a village from a large mudslide.

Toji and Kensuke had been with her on that mission, helping to save as many people as they could.

Kaji was on his way back with Makoto the paladin and Maya the sorceress from their rescue mission to save the princess of a visiting king.

"So, here's how we'll do this." Asuka started to say once Misato was deposited in a chair at one of the tables. "I'll count up the treasure to be divided and..."

"We quit." Shinji said.

"What?" Asuka asked.

"I said, we quit. Rei and I don't want to be partners with you and Misato any more." Shinji explained.

"YOU CAN'T QUIT!" Asuka shouted at the pair. "WHY?"

"You left us to die when the Goblin Army attacked us, taking the treasure instead of helping Misato and ourselves." Shinji stated.

"Your constant boasting that you don't need or want us with you." Rei stated.

"You refuse to acknowledge either of us as your friends and teammates." Shinji said.

"Your constant insults and mockery of Shinji and mines relationship." Rei added.

"And I'm more than a little sick and tired of Misato spending all our money on mead and food, for herself!" Shinji grumbled. "Not to mention all the times I've had to heal her when she does something stupid, which is a lot!"

"We've already had the guildmaster sign the necessary papers." Rei said as she presented the papers to Asuka.

Asuka looked at the papers and realized they were official.

"Fine! If we're no long partners, then you're not getting any of the treasure that I got from the Goblin Kings treasure room!" Asuka said haughtily.

"I figured as much. I already got 500 gold for delivering the head of the Goblin King to the Guild." Shinji stated.

"What?" she gasped. "But I helped you kill that bastard!"

"No you didn't! You fired a few arrows at him and knocked his crown off of his head. That's it. Misato stuck him with her sword, but he backhanded her and knocked her cold before she could make a killing blow. Rei used her powers to wrap his feet with plant vines while I used my power over metal to slice his head off." Shinji explained. "While we were doing that, you went and raided his treasure room. It was the final straw for us."

"I thought you guys were dead already when the rest of those goblins swarmed the throne room." Asuka rebuttaled.

"Instead of helping us." Rei added.

"I had to use a lot of energy to throw their weapons back at them to kill them. Then Rei and I had to carry Misato out of there." Shinji said.

"We had already submitted the request form to disassociate ourselves from you and Misato before we went on our quest to kill the Goblin King." Rei said.

"The guildmaster signed off on it once we delivered our final report to him, when we delivered the Goblin Kings head." Shinji said.

"But, but, you..." the redheaded ranger tried to argue, realizing she was about to lose her two best workers.

"You don't need us, Asuka. As you've always said." Shinji said with a sad smile.

"Unless it is to do the heavy lifting and hard work." Rei said with her usual straight face.

The stuttering redhead was just left speechless as the blue-haired druid and the brown-haired cleric just walked upstairs to their room, and perhaps a new future together.

"AAAHHHH!" Misato yawned as she woke up from her long nap. "Hey, Asuka. So, how'd we do?"

Asuka wasn't sure where to begin.


	14. Rivalries

_**SHINJI'S NEW LIFE  
**_ By Gunman & Reisfriend

Disclaimer: We own nothing.

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Chapter 14  
 **Rivalries**

(Hunters Inn, 17 hours after leaving Mirian's Tower)

The adventurers and the hunters had finally arrived at the Hunters Inn after hours of walking through the dense forest. The group had also encountered a couple of wolves which were shot by Lilia and, to the groups surprise, she stored the bodies in her Darkness storage. Shinji was surprised to see that the archer girl had Darkness magic, but was also glad because if she joined their party, then there would be another person who could use the storage so he wouldn't have to use it every time they picked up something, since trying to remember everything that was in the storage was a pain.

When the innkeeper saw the adventurers and hunters, he was glad to see that his regular customers (the hunters) were alive and well. Ayl ordered food and drinks for everyone, since the hunters had no money on them, but they would pay her back when they got home.

At the moment, the hunters were eating their portions of food at their own tables while Ayl and Tia were eating at one of the larger tables that was big enough for two people. Lilia and Shinji were sitting at another larger table, talking.

"You have water _and_ darkness magic as well Shinji?" Lilia asked, having started a conversation with the young adventurer when she asked if they could eat together and talk after Ayl had ordered food.

"Yes, but I would have wanted to have fire magic as well." Shinji replied, eating a wolf steak.

"I have wind magic, as well as water and darkness. These magic's are most useful to hunters like me. But I would have wanted fire magic as well." Lilia said.

"You're a hunter as well?" Shinji asked.

"Everyone in my family is a hunter, with the parents teaching the art of hunting to their children. My father only has darkness magic while my mother only has water magic, which is why they always work together. But since I have three magic's, I can hunt solo." Lilia explained.

"But why are you an adventurer then?" Shinji asked, curious that she hadn't taken up the family trade.

"Well, that part is a bit embarrassing. I ran away from home." Lilia said sheepishly.

"Why did you run away?" Shinji asked, surprised about that revelation.

"My parents wanted to arrange a marriage between me and this other hunter whom I don't like. They did that because I couldn't find anyone who would want to marry me." Lilia explained.

"Why wouldn't anyone accept you? You're talented and cute, so I thought that there would be a lot of suitors after you." Shinji said, which made Lilia turn red.

"You think I'm cute?" She asked.

"I do think you're cute. I wouldn't mind having a cute wife like you." Shinji replied, deciding to flatter her for a bit.

"Are you serious, or are you just teasing me?" Lilia asked, sounding like she was upset.

"I'm serious. Why would I tease you?" Shinji answered.

"You asked why no one would accept me. The reason is because everyone made fun of me because of my small breasts." Lilia said with an embarrassed face. She actually felt more embarrassed for telling him that.

Shinji just stared at her with a confused expression. Seeing his confusion, Lilia explained.

"In Evenmoor, men tend to favor women with big breasts. Which is why I've always had lousy luck in romance." Lilia whined.

"Just because you have small breasts?" Shinji asked, clearly baffled by her explanation.

"That's right. Because I have small breasts, which makes me look more like a boy, I was made fun of and men had no interest towards someone like me." Lilia clarified.

Shinji didn't know what to say. It was his first time meeting someone with problems and traumas like Lilia.

"Would you use your 'Appraisal' on me Shinji?" Lilia asked suddenly.

"Why? Is there something wrong with you?" Shinji asked.

"My mother has big breasts, so I should have inherited the trait from her. Since I didn't, there must be something wrong with me. So would you please just check if there is something wrong with me?" Lilia asked.

"Alright. 'Appraise'." Shinji replied and appraised Lilia.

Lilia Kranjcar, age 16, race Pantherian. Conditions: None. Shinji read the status screen that appeared before him. (Shinji actually found it useful when he used this ability. Like learning a persons name)

"My appraisal says there's nothing wrong with you." Shinji said, which made Lilia frown in frustration.

"Figures. Probably because I inherited the magic's of my parents, my breast growth stopped when I turned 15." Lilia said.

"My appraisal said that you're a Pantherian. You're a demi-human Lilia?" Shinji asked.

"I am. Do you have something against demi-humans?" Lilia asked him.

"No. This is just the first time I've actually talked with one." Shinji replied, finishing his meal.

"Am I really the first one you have talked to?" She asked, surprised.

"That's right. I have seen demi-humans before but I've never had the chance to talk with one." Shinji said.

"Great! I got to be your first demi-human." Lilia said happily.

"But where are your ears and tail?" Shinji asked.

"I use darkness magic to hide them. You want to see them?" Lilia replied.

"If you don't mind." Shinji said.

Lilia chanted 'reveal' which dissipated the magic she was using and her dirty blond tail and ears came visible.

Shinji just looked in surprise how much cuter Lilia looked with the tail and ears visible. She was like a cute catgirl character from an isekai manga he read back in his world.

"You're even cuter now Lilia." Shinji complimented, secretly wanting to pet her.

"Hehe, thank you for the compliment Shinji. I haven't received many of those in my life." Lilia said, feeling happy that she was praised.

Taking a sip of mead before turning to her, Shinji started a new series of questions.

"So, how long did you practice archery Lilia?" He asked.

Lilia was glad that he changed the topic back to more cheerful things.

"I started practicing when I was 7 years old. And aside from the bow, I also learned how to skin animals, track, survival skills, edible herbs, berries and mushrooms, fishing, riding and even hunting with a whip." Lilia answered, trying to impress Shinji with her skills, which wasn't hard.

"You can hunt and kill animals with a whip?" Shinji asked in surprise. He thought that killing an animal with a whip was ridiculously cool.

"Only boars and smaller animals. I made my first kill at the age of 10 with a bow and the first kill with a whip was when I was 13." Lilia said, noticing his impressed expression.

"That's very impressive, Lilia." Shinji said, feeling jealous of the archer girl. She was training to become a hunter and did all kinds of cool things at the age when he was going to school, hanging out with friends, playing video games and reading manga. Something unheard of in this world.

At the other table, Tia watched the pair chatting and noticing Shinji's expressions when Lilia told him something.

' _This is bad. Shinji is getting more impressed by Lilia the more she talks_.' Tia thought as she ate her steak.

"How did you move up to D-rank so fast Lilia?" Shinji asked after Lilia was done with her steak.

"Since I had very little money when I came to Ithalan, I immediately joined the Guild and took three herb gathering quests. Took me two days to find all the herbs needed and I hunted food while sleeping outside. After that I had a decent meal and continued gathering herbs and killing low-ranked monsters like wolves and stray goblins. I also took a request where I taught archery to a noblemans son, who wasn't very good. Took me a year, but I ranked up to D-rank and I could earn enough money to stay at an Inn, but I mostly sleep outside, which is probably why I haven't seen you before this ordeal." Lilia explained.

"Wow Lilia, you are quite talented. I really hope now that Ayl accepts you in our party." Shinji said, now completely impressed by Lilia.

"Well, I hope she does too, because I am really interested in you now Shinji. Ayl is the only person blessed by the Gods that I have seen. I never even imagined that someone with two full blessings could exist." Lilia replied as she leaned in closer to him.

"Interested in me how?" Shinji asked, his heart pounding a bit faster then normally.

"You are the first man outside my family who has honestly called me cute and not made fun of me. And since I have been too busy, I wasn't able to make friends and I didn't even receive any invitations to other parties. So I would like it if you would be my first friend in Ithalan."

"I don't mind having a friend like you Lilia. It's also quite fun talking with you and I'm sure you would have plenty of interesting stories to tell me." Shinji said, though he wondered if she gave him a full explanation about why she was so adamant about being his friend.

' _Is she attracted to me romantically_?' He thought in his head about her motives, though he wouldn't mind if a cute girl like Lilia was also after him, since a harem of warrior babes was his secret fantasy.

Lilia finished her meal and sighed happily.

"Phew, I'm stuffed." She said with a smile, drinking the remaining mead from her cup and turned to Shinji. "I think I'll go to sleep now. Let's talk more later Shinji."

"Sure." He replied simply and went to get some more mead at the bar counter as Lilia headed upstairs.

Tia came next to him as he took a sip of the mead.

"Shinji, can I talk with you?" Tia asked as she poured mead for herself.

"Of course Tia. Is something wrong?" Shinji replied.

"No, nothing's wrong. I just want to ask what do you think about Lilia?" Tia asked.

"I think she would be a fine addition to our party. Her skills would come in handy if we have to go to a forest again." Shinji replied.

"Do you like her?" Tia asked, not saying anything to his opinion about her skills.

"Well, she hasn't given me any reason to dislike her." He answered, getting the feeling that Tia might be jealous.

"Well, even if she turns out to be a rival, I am confident that I can defeat her. After all, I have known you longer." Tia said and took another sip of mead.

"Are you getting drunk Tia?" Shinji asked.

"Maybe a little." She answered bluntly.

"How about if we go to sleep now?" Shinji asked before his mind registered what he just asked.

"I would like that Shinji. So you decided to sleep with me after all?" Tia asked.

"Well, sleeping with you is quite pleasant." He replied.

"The feeling is mutual Shinji. Come along then." Tia said as she gulped down the remaining mead in her cup. Shinji did the same.

' _Are you going to do that with Tia as well Shinji_?' Ayl thought, slightly amused how her young apprentice was capturing the attention of young beauties one after the other.

Shinji and Tia went upstairs where the bedrooms were and entered the one Tia had rented. The room had a closet, a desk and a bed with a regular mattress and blanket.

Shinji thought that these wilderness inns only had the barest essentials, considering they were so far out of the way, so seeing an actual mattress in a wilderness inn was a surprise.

"Would you help me out of this armor Shinji?" Tia asked.

"Of course." He replied and went to open the straps on the sides and once they were open, he used his metal powers to lift the armor off of her.

"Ah. Much better." Tia said and sat down on the bed, taking off her armored boots and greaves as Shinji removed his leather armor. "I have to thank you Shinji." Tia said when she had all of her armor removed.

"For what?" He asked.

"For freeing us from Mirians control. Though the Goddess of Healing is also to thank for giving you the power needed to free us. If not for your power, we would have been enslaved forever and trapped in our own bodies. A fate like that terrifies me even more then death." Tia explained.

Shinji sat down next to her on the bed. "A fate like that terrifies me as well. So from now on let's make sure that doesn't happen again."

"Yes. But after an experience like this, I now realize that if you don't take the chance when you can, you might never get another chance." Tia replied.

"What are you...?" Shinji started but was interrupted when Tia pushed him down on the bed and kissed him right on the lips, her tongue forcibly going into his mouth.

"MMPH!" Shinji moaned in surprise and pleasure when he felt Tia's tongue wriggling against his.

Tia broke the kiss after a few seconds and looked him square in the eyes.

"I don't want to wait anymore Shinji. I want you now." Her face was red and she looked really nervous.

"Calm down Tia." Shinji said, his face turning red from excitement.

"I can't." Tia countered and brought her face closer to his.

Shinji was about to say something, but Tia stopped him by kissing him again. The kiss lasted only a few seconds again and she spoke again.

"Don't deny this from me Shinji. I want what you and Hana have."

"This is quite sudden Tia. Why don't we start slowly first?" Shinji said, trying to calm her down at least a little bit.

"Slowly?" She asked and he rose up.

"Like this." He said and kissed her gently, slowly licking her tongue as his tongue went into her mouth.

"Nnnhh." Tia moaned into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck and straddling closer to him as she sat on his lap. She felt his hands caressing her back, which felt pleasant for her and she unconsciously started to comb her fingers through his hair.

After a minute, Shinji stopped the kiss and asked: "Did that feel good Tia?"

"Yes. It was more enjoyable then the forceful kiss I did. I have never done anything like this." Tia admitted.

"That's fine Tia. We have time to learn..." He started but was interrupted.

"NO! I won't wait anymore. Show me what being intimate feels like Shinji. I want it. I want you." Tia said and suddenly pulled his shirt off, leaving his torso bare.

Tia then took off her shirt, exposing her firm and perky F-cup breasts to him.

' _Whoa! She's so pale, but that makes her even prettier_.' He thought as he admired the view Tia gave him.

"What do you think Shinji? I'm not as big as Hana, but I am confident in their shape and size." Tia said as she took his hand and placed it on her right breast.

' _Oh God! It feels so good to the touch_!' He thought as he felt her boob in his hand.

"I never thought that you are unattractive in any way Tia." Shinji assured her as he removed his hand from her chest.

"Are you worried that you will hurt Hana by being with me? If you are, then I will share you with her. I don't want to hurt Hana either." Tia said as she brought her face closer to his again.

"I was worried about that, yes." He admitted, before she kissed him. This time she was kissing him in the way he showed her.

' _Shit! Her breasts feel so good that my mind will fly out the window!_ ' He thought as her naked breasts rubbed against his chest and the way how she was using her tongue once again, which made both of them moan in pleasure.

She ended the kiss and said: "Now Shinji, show me what being intimate feels like."

"Very well Tia. Lie down." He said, but he was really nervous.

Tia lied down on the bed and soon Shinji started to suckle her breasts like he did with Hana.

"HYAH!" Tia moaned when she felt pleasure coursing through her. ' _Why does this feel so good!?_ ' Tia thought as Shinji continued to 'attack' her breasts.

"AH! YES! SHINJI..." Tia moaned in pleasure as Shinji fondled her other breast while nibbling on the others nipple and switching sides.

Tia felt the pleasure suddenly stop and she looked down and saw that Shinji started going lower towards belly and planting kisses along the way until he reached her pants. Her face turned into 'terror' as he started to pull down her pants, exposing her crotch and spreading her legs as he brought his face closer to her womanhood.

"Shinji, what are you doing?!" Tia managed to cry out.

"I'm going to pleasure you." He answered outwardly, but inwardly he was thinking: 'Oh God! What am I even doing?! My body just moved on it's own, but I can't stop now!'

"You're not going to... WAAHH!" Tia screamed when Shinji's tongue touched her womanhood.

' _She tastes even better then I imagined_.' Shinji thought as he licked her pussy while fondling her buttocks.

"AAAHHH! SHINJI!" Tia screamed in pleasure as he licked her most private part as his tongue even went inside her.

' _By the Gods! I'll die if this goes on any longer_!' Tia thought as the pleasure continued to wash over her like a tidal wave. Her muscles tensed up, her back arched upwards, her legs wrapping around Shinji's head as her hands gribbed the sheets. ' _Is this the pleasure I've heard so much about? This is... Oh Gods!_ '

Shinji was lost in the pleasant feeling of her thighs pressing against his cheeks and her taste filling his mouth as he continued to orally pleasure the lancer.

"GYYAAAAAAHHHHH!" Tia screamed when she orgasmed and came all over Shinji's face.

The lancers body went slack as Shinji stopped licking her and she panted like crazy from the afterglow.

"Are you okay Tia?" Shinji asked, his face red from the perverted act and his heart was pounding once again from the excitement.

"Haah haah, I'm fine, but I can't believe you actually put your tongue in there." She panted, her face also flushed from both embarrassment and pleasure.

"It was my first time doing that, but my body just moved on it's own. I'm sorry if you didn't like it." Shinji said, now thinking that she was angry at him.

"No, I liked it. I was just surprised that you suddenly did that. Let's do that again when we get intimate again." Tia said, her breathing calming down.

Shinji sighted in relief that Tia wasn't angry, but then he was suddenly flipped onto his back as Tia straddled him.

"But now, I will pleasure you." Tia said as she pulled down his pants, exposing his raging erection.

Shinji quickly cast the Contraceptive magic to both of them.

"You're quite big Shinji." She said as she stroked his member.

"Ghh!" Shinji gasped as she took him in hand. It didn't last long though, since Tia moved her crotch over it and tried to get it inside her. He helped her by moving his dick to the right place and Tia lowered her hips, taking his member all the way inside.

"AAHH AH!" They both moaned loudly from the pleasure. Tia slumped forward and supported herself with her hands as Shinji gasped from how tight she was. He managed to crack his eyes open to see Tia's face, which looked like she was in pain.

"Does it hurt?" He managed to ask through gritted teeth.

"No. It feels so good that my eyes are tearing up." She replied weakly, the pleasure being almost too much for her to handle. ' _My first time_!' She thought to herself.

"My eyes are tearing up as well, it feels so good inside you Tia." Shinji said, using every ounce of willpower to stop himself from cumming.

Tia started to move suddenly, her hips going up and down in a slow pace. They both gasped loudly from the pleasure that nearly overwhelmed them.

"SO...GOOD!" Tia managed to say as her hips started going faster.

"AH! TIA..!" Shinji cried out from the pleasure.

As Tia kept moving her hips, Shinji's hands went to her thighs.

' _She's so tight and hot... I can't last long_.' He thought to himself.

' _This feels even better then I imagined! My hips refuse to stop moving. But I don't want to stop. I want this to go on forever_!' Tia thought in pleasure.

Tia increased the speed, which increased the pleasure to unbearable level and she suddenly came.

"GYAAAAHHH!" She screamed as she orgasmed again, squeezing Shinji's member even tighter, which made him cum.

"WAAAHH!" He screamed as he came inside her.

The lancer collapsed on top of him, her breasts mashed against his chest and they both panted madly.

When Tia's breathing came back to normal again, she looked up at Shinji.

"I'm sorry Shinji." She said to him.

"For what?" He asked as his breathing calmed down.

"Because I couldn't last long. This was my first time and I couldn't handle the pleasure." She explained with a red face.

"It's okay Tia. I couldn't last long either because it felt so good. But we can last longer with practice." He said, but then he kicked himself mentally when he realized what he said.

"Hmm, that might be true. I want to do this again Shinji." Tia replied.

Shinji was surprised that she accepted the idea.

"I never knew that sex could feel this good. And now that I know what it feels like, I want to do more of this with you. So... let's get better together, so we can do this longer." Tia said as she raised her hips to dismount him.

They moaned when Shinji's member was fully out of her and she collapsed next to him.

"My hips went numb." Tia said weakly as she was about to doze off.

"I thought that my heart was going to explode because it felt so incredible." Shinji said to her.

"I... Uh." Tia started but she fainted right against Shinji.

Shinji just looked at her as she was cuddled up against him. He smiled a little bit as he pulled the blanket over them both, before drifting off to sleep himself.

Ayl climbed the stairs to the second floor and as she passed by Tia's room, she didn't hear anything.

' _Guess they already finished_.' She thought as she opened her room door opposite of Tia's room. Removing her leather armor and leaving her undershirt and pants on, she slumped down on the bed.

"Ooohh! Bed, I love you so much." Ayl mumbled against the pillow, happy that she was finally going to sleep on a proper bed.

Lilia was rolling around on her bed, thinking about her new friend. ' _Nngghh! I want to snuggle with him and sleep next to him. My friends always kept bragging how good it feels to sleep with someone and now I finally found someone who accepts me, but here I am, sleeping alone. No, I have to deepen my friendship with him first before I offer anything like that_.'

She found a comfortable position for sleeping and thanked the inventor of the bed for inventing a more comfortable means of sleeping.

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(Next morning)

Shinji woke up first, seeing a tuff of silver hair belonging to Tia, his new lover.

' _Another beauty I had sex with. And she was quite aggressive with her approach_.' He thought, untangling himself from her grip and putting on clothes after he washed himself with water magic and turned off the Contraceptive magic from both of them.

Heading downstairs, where nobody was around, he took an empty cup and filled it with water and gulped it down.

Stepping outside of the inn, he noticed that the sun was just rising. So it was very early, but they would soon start their long ride back to Ithalan.

"Morning Shinji." He heard Lilia behind him.

"Morning Lilia. Did you have a good rest?" He asked as he turned to look at the archer.

"Yes, it was a good rest since I could finally sleep on a bed, instead of a cold stone floor. You're up quite early." Lilia replied.

"I got thirsty, so I woke up to get some water." He said, deciding to keep his 'session' with Tia to himself.

"And I woke up this early because that's normal for me. Hunters usually wake up somewhere around this time so they can head out to hunt." Lilia said, walking next to Shinji.

"Makes sense." He replied as he stretched his back.

"By the way Shinji, I forgot to ask you something. How did you kill the Mist Creature?" Lilia asked.

"I froze it with water magic and crushed the ice." He answered.

"I never would have imagined that killing a Mist Creature would be so simple, since none of the other magics have worked against one. Effectively at least. You really are amazing Shinji. I never thought that I would meet the first one who killed a Mist Creature." Lilia complimented.

"To tell you the truth, I was surprised that it worked. I just wanted to save my mentor." Shinji said.

"It is still amazing Shinji. Would you join me for morning practice?" Lilia said.

"Practice?" He asked.

"Every morning I shoot my bow 20 times to maintain my accuracy. Would you like to see?" She clarified.

"Why not." He said and followed her behind the inn where a couple of trees were growing.

Lilia pulled out her bow and quiver from her darkness storage and readied the bow. Shinji watched closely how she held the bow and aimed at the tree.

"Now, I'm going to shoot three arrows to that low branch on the left." Lilia said and fired 3 arrows in rapid succession and hit the branch. The arrows stuck on the branch very close to each other.

"Wow. That was very good Lilia." He complimented.

"Now watch this." She said and readied another arrow. She fired and hit the cone that was hanging on a branch.

Shinji just stared in amazement. If Lilia would have been a member of an archery club in high school, she would have won national tournaments with her accuracy, Shinji thought as she kept firing the arrows and hitting the intended spots on the tree.

"Phew. And that settles today's practice." Lilia said after she fired the last arrow.

Since the arrows had steel tips, Shinji used his power to pull all the arrows at the same time off from the tree and back to her quiver.

Lilia just stared with wide eyes as the arrows came back to her quiver.

"Shinji, that is just too amazing." She said in a shaky voice, pointing at the arrows in her quiver.

Shinji smirked at her reaction. Lilia was was just so cute when she looked baffled.

"Shinji! Where are you!?" They heard Ayl calling out to him as she came around the corner. "Oh there you are. Come on Shinji, let's eat before we head out." Ayl went back to the inn with Lilia and Shinji following her.

The group were eating sandwiches and boiled eggs for breakfast as Ayl spoke. "Alright then. The hunters said that they will ride back to their village with their horses and we will ride to Ithalan. I've already gotten their signatures on papers to show to the Guild, so we are good to return. Shinji will ride Tornac with me and Tia will ride with Lilia."

Tia wanted to protest, but seeing the look on Ayl's face told her that she shouldn't. Lilia wanted to have Shinji ride with her to get some physical contact with him.

"Fine/Works for me." Lilia and Tia said, continuing with their meals.

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Authors Notes: From Reisfriend. I have a question for you people who put this story in favorites and/or follows. The question is: Why aren't you reviewing? I would like to hear what you think about the story me and gunman work on for hours. If you reviewed, you could give us suggestions, point out errors, tell us what you would like to see in the story and more. It would also make us happy knowing that you appreciate the effort we put in making a story for your enjoyment, which would motivate us even more.

From Gunman: HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!

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OMAKE

It was two days later.

The torrential rain storm that had suddenly moved in via last night was still going strong, pounding the forest and the Hunters Inn like hammers on wood.

Ayl, Shinji, Tia and Lilia were kind of stuck at the Inn until it let up.

Fortunately, they had plenty of food and the group was using their magical abilities to make sure the Inn wasn't compromised with water leaks.

Shinji wondered why they were here at all, given how their water magics could have easily enabled them to get back to Ithalan without trouble. Or was there something else going on? Maybe it would have been difficult to get back with the roads being all muddy, but that seemed minor compared to all things.

He had noticed that Ayl and Lilia were talking a lot. Probably the demi-human archer trying to convince the elf maiden to let her join their party. Ayl didn't seem to be upset at the prospect, but it seemed like she was waiting for a final decision.

Maybe there was paperwork to make it official? Maybe Lilia had yet to make any kind of impression on Ayl that would warrant her joining them?

It was just after dinner, and Shinji was in his room about to fall asleep.

Someone knocked on his door.

"Lilia. Is everything alright?" He asked the archer as he opened the door.

"Can I come in?" She asked demurely.

"Sure."

The second Shinji closed the door, Lilia was on him. Her arms wrapped around his neck as her lips pressed against his own. Her actions were aggressive, but Shinji could feel she was trembling.

"I want you, Shinji." She whispered to him. "For once in my life... I want to feel... happy. Make love to me." She pleaded him.

There was a sadness in her voice that Shinji detected right away. A want, a need that she was worried would get away from her. She was hurting, and needed some comfort. Perhaps more than just that.

"Let me see the real you." He said to her.

Lilia smiled, knowing what he meant.

Removing the spell, her dirty blond ears and tail became visible once more. Shinji, unable to help himself, reached up and started petting her ears. A shudder went through her body as she felt her pleasure centers stimulated by his touch.

"Aaaaahhhhhhh!" She panted softly, her entire body turned on by the act and her tail stood up cutely. Shinji knew just how to touch her.

He reluctantly stopped rubbing her ears and helped Lilia peel her clothes off, her shirt and belt and then her pants and boots. Shinji couldn't help but stare at her lean and athletic body. Her breasts were modest A-cups, which were pale and shapely. He found it difficult to believe she couldn't get a boyfriend.

"D-Don't stare so much." She said, covering her chest.

"You're beautiful, Lilia." Shinji said, pulling her into a close hug.

"I... am?"

"Yes." He said as he tenderly kissed her lips.

Lilia felt her heart beat rapidly as he held and kissed her. It was driving her crazy.

The pair shed their remaining clothes and moved to the bed. She held onto him tightly, arms and legs wrapped around his body like he was her lifeline, as they rolled around on the bed for several minutes, intensely making out.

Shinji had to admit, making love to a cute catgirl was actually a fantasy for him. He felt how hungry she was in her kisses, how she kept grinding against his body, her hands scratching his back as her legs wrapped around his waist to try and pull him into her.

Her body told him how much she wanted this, if her words did not.

Shinji sat up on his knees and pulled Lilia into his lap. His fully aroused manhood stood erect as Lilia nervously lowered herself down upon him.

"AH! AHHH!" She cried out as he slowly entered her body. "SHINJI!" She gasped, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

Shinji buried himself in her neck, hugging and nuzzling her warm flesh as he gently and slowly thrust up into her tight and nubile body. Shinji had to admit, he was gaining himself a lot of firsts in this new world. And with such cute girls too.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Lilia mewed as Shinji sped up his thrusts, holding on tightly as she bounced up and down on his lap.

Lilia was lost in the pleasure she had never experienced before, a pleasure that was quickly overwhelming her entire body.

"AAAHHHH!" She cried out as she orgasmed in time with Shinji.

Her body became limp and she slumped against Shinji moaning softly as fatigue washed over her.

"Oh... Shinji..." She sighed.

Shinji gently laid her body down onto his bed and pulled the covers over her. He then grabbed his stuff and walked over to Lilia's room, seeing as how his was taken.

He paused when he noticed his mentor, Ayl, standing in the middle of the hallway, staring at him.

"Is something wrong, Ayl?" He asked her.

"You're lucky that the rain was louder than your lover." Ayl said with an amused expression.

"Oh." He said with a blush.

"Good night, Shinji." She said as she went back to her room, pursing her lips together jealously.

TBC


	15. Date

_**SHINJI'S NEW LIFE  
**_ By Gunman & Reisfriend

Disclaimer: We own nothing.

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Chapter 15  
 **Date**

Ayl, Tia, Lilia and Shinji had ridden from the Hunters Inn to Ithalan. Along the way, they had stopped to rest for the night, with Shinji sleeping while the women kept watch and in the morning he used the 'Rest' chant on the ones who kept watch and took care of saddling the horses and feeding them. During the night, Tia snuggled next to Shinji once again, which made the archer girl frown at the lancer for getting to sleep in comfort like that. Lilia also frowned at Ayl when she snuggled next to Shinji.

Lilia's horse, a white horse with a black mane that was smaller then Tornac, didn't let Shinji close at first, but after giving it an apple and some water, it allowed him to put on the saddle.

From their campsite, Shinji sat behind Lilia. The archer said that she wanted Shinji to sit behind her the rest of the way and Ayl saw no problem with it. Tia was a little conflicted with this.

Coming up at the stables, Tia and Shinji dismounted the horses and Ayl and Lilia did the same after them.

"Phew, finally we're back. I can't wait to get some hot food and cold drinks." Lilia said, holding the reins of her horse as she looked at the gates of the city.

"Same here. Hopefully Hana has some thick steaks and potatoes ready." Ayl commented, rubbing her stomach through her leather armor, which rumbled quietly.

"Aren't we going to report to the Guild first?" Shinji asked, also eager to eat something.

"We can do that tomorrow when we are rested." Ayl answered simply and started going to the stables with Tornac. Lilia followed after her.

"Shinji, before we enter the city..." Tia started and kissed him as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Nnnhh." They both moaned into the kiss.

Tia ended the kiss reluctantly and stared at Shinji in the eye.

"In the city, I'll let Hana have you all to herself, but outside the city, I get to have you all to myself." Tia said.

"Are you sure that's fine?" He asked, taken back by that statement.

"I'm sure Hana will accept this proposition as we both want you." Tia replied.

"Alright you two, come along." Ayl said as she walked past them towards the gate. Tia and Shinji turned to follow her with Lilia behind them, who was glaring at the quarter-vampire.

' _Why must I have powerful rivals like Tia and Hana!?_ ' Lilia thought jealously, thinking about Tia's display of affection towards Shinji.

After proving their identities at the gate and entering the city, the group made their way towards the Silver Eagle's Inn. Ayl and Tia wondered if Hana would jump on Shinji once again.

Entering the Inn, the group noted that there were a lot of customers eating, drinking, playing dices and arm wrestling, with a few employees taking meals and drinks to the tables and Hana was behind the counter, wiping cups.

"HA! I win!" A man at a table said.

"Let me see those dices!" The mans partner scowled.

"Such good food!" Another patron said happily.

"Thanks to the salt!" A second patron sighed happily as he patted his stomach.

"I'm telling you I saw it!" A brown-haired man said in earnest.

"A mermaid in a mountain lake? Don't be a fool!" A red-haired man laughed.

"ANOTHER!" A man with a thick blond beard and hair shouted as he smashed his goblet into the floor.

The group passed the noisy patrons and right up to the counter. Shinji called out to his lover.

"Hana, we're back." He said.

She looked up and saw her lover for the first time in days.

"SHINJI!" She exclaimed in joy as she raced around the counter and practically jumped him, her arms around his neck as she kissed him fiercely. Fortunately for them, the customers were being too drunk or rowdy to notice them.

Ayl and Tia just smirked at the display of affection and Lilia took a good look at Hana, since she hadn't really paid attention to her in the rare times she was in the city.

' _Tch! Hana has even bigger breasts then Tia and she already has a head start with Shinji. Food and feminine charm are powerful rivals_.' Lilia thought, evaluating her rival.

Hana ended the kiss and sighed happily.

"I'm so glad you're back Shinji. I was so worried for all of you." She said, never letting go of him.

"We had a few close calls, but we're fine." Shinji told her as he hugged her.

"We'll tell you about it later Hana, but now we would like to have some food and drinks." Ayl said, sitting at the counter since all the tables were taken.

"Of course. Today we have mountain bull steaks." Hana said, knowing that those were Ayl's favorite.

"Huh!?" Ayl gasped when she heard 'mountain bull steaks'. "Hurry up and bring them, with potatoes!"

Hana giggled from her reaction. "And I suppose you want mead as well to go with it."

"Of course. Now hurry up and bring them!" Ayl said impatiently.

"I'll have mead as well." Shinji said, sitting next to Ayl.

"I'll have an ale." Tia said as she sat next to Shinji.

"I'll have an ale as well." Lilia said as she sat on the other side of Ayl.

Hana decided to leave questions for later about the new girl on the team and handed them the drinks they ordered and went to the kitchen to get their meals.

"Ayl, is there something special about mountain bull steaks, since you got so impatient?" Shinji whispered to her.

"Trust me, Shinji. Once you eat these steaks, you will get addicted to them." Ayl answered and took a swig of mead, impatiently looking at the kitchen door.

Hana came out a minute later with plates that had large steaks on them and three potatoes each, as well as knives and forks.

"Enjoy your meal." Hana said as she handed the plates to the adventurers.

Ayl started to cut her steaks and took a mouthful of the meat, which made her moan from enjoyment. Shinji also took a piece and the taste just exploded into his mouth.

' _Oh God! The condiments and salt mixed together make this meat absolutely delicious. The meat is also so easy to chew and it's juicy. I really could get addicted to this_.' He thought as he ate the steak, loving the taste. He also noticed that Lilia and Tia were loving them, since their faces practically said "I love these steaks."

It took the group almost half an hour to eat the steaks, since they were rather big and even Ayl ate slowly, to savor the taste.

"Aaahhh. I could eat these steaks everyday." Ayl moaned, patting her satisfied stomach.

"Hana, thank you for such a delicious meal." Shinji said to his lover who smiled at the compliment.

"I knew you would like them Shinji." She said and leaned over to kiss him.

"How have things been here?" He asked.

"Just same old. Customers coming and going and ordering food and drinks and renting rooms." Hana replied. "My aunt and Miss Brigid have been by a couple times since you left, mostly to see how I was doing."

"That's good to hear. But we would like to rent rooms now so we can rest after this tiresome journey." Ayl said as she gulped down her remaining mead.

"Of course. Your usual room is free Ayl, but Tia will have to share a room with... what's your name?" Hana asked the archer girl.

"Lilia Krancjar." the cute demi-human answered.

"I'm fine with sharing a room. I take it that Shinji will sleep with you?" Tia said.

"Naturally. I want to spend time with my lover after being apart for days." Hana replied.

"I would like to talk with you and Shinji before we rest. Is it okay?" Tia added.

"Of course." Hana answered, feeling that Tia was going to talk about Shinji. Hana retrieved keys to the rooms that were available and handed them to the adventurers.

"Shinji will wait for you in my room, so come and get him when your shift is over." Ayl told Hana.

Hana nodded to the elf as she got up and lead Shinji and Tia to her room. When they reached the room, Ayl left her casual clothes on when she removed her cloak and leather armor.

"Are we going to report to the Guild about the Mist Creature?" Shinji asked.

"Yes. The Mist Creature is included in the report. We report that our quest was a success and get the items we gathered appraised. Then we will go to the Rangers and bring them Mirians head." Ayl answered.

"And what about Lilia? Are you going to accept her into our group?" Tia asked.

"I'm leaning towards yes. Do you have something against it?" Ayl asked.

"No. Lilia would make a good addition to our group with her skills." Tia said.

"I also have no problem with it." Shinji added.

"Very well then. We will also register Lilia as our party member." Ayl said.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Come in." Ayl said.

Hana entered the room and looked to the quarter-vampire lancer.

"Tia, what did you want to talk about?" Hana asked.

"I'll get straight to the point. I wish to share Shinji with you." Tia replied bluntly.

"Share him?" Hana asked in surprise.

"We both care about Shinji. But Shinji and I don't want to hurt you, so I wish that we could share him. You would get to have him all to yourself while we are in the city and outside of the city, I can have him. I will also protect him when we go out on quests." Tia explained.

"Have you and Shinji been intimate?" Hana asked after thinking about her proposition for minute.

"Yes. I pleaded Shinji to show me what it feels like at the Hunters Inn. And being intimate like that felt so good that I want to experience it again. The way he pleasured me was amazing." Tia answered.

"Pleasured you how?" Hana asked, bewildered.

"He used his tongue to touch me down here." Tia answered, moving her hand to her crotch. "Just that felt so amazing that I thought I was going to die."

Shinji was nervous as hell. Even if Lianna told him that polygamy was normal in this world, he was pretty sure that not every woman liked to share. So he wasn't sure how Hana would react to the news.

"Shinji, are you going to leave me?" Hana asked her lover.

"NO HANA! I won't leave you. I care about you and want to be with you, but I also care about Tia. She is also important to me." He answered hastily.

"Shinji is important to me as well. I wish to marry him someday, but he can also marry you in the future. I won't object if he wants to have other wives." Tia added.

"Well, as long as these other 'wives' can protect him and bring him back to me, then I won't object. But that Lilia girl, is she after Shinji?" Hana asked.

"It's possible, considering how interested she was in Shinji." Tia answered before Shinji could.

"If she wants Shinji, then she has to be able to protect him as well." Hana said, not really bothered by the fact that another woman might be after her lover.

"I agree. If she can't protect him, she has to go." Tia agreed.

"Come on Shinji. I want to hear all about your adventure." Hana said, grabbing his hand and pulling him along with her to her room.

Tia just sighed, missing Shinji already.

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Hana pushed Shinji into her room and closed the door before she pounced on him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. She pushed Shinji back onto her bed, landing on top of him as she continued to smother him with kisses.

"I thought you wanted to hear about our adventures." Shinji said once Hana pulled back from him, sitting on his waist and pulling her shirt off of her shapely body.

"I do. But later. I missed you so much!" Hana said as she tossed her shirt on the floor and started pulling Shinji's own shirt off.

 _'I wonder if all my 'welcome backs' are going to be like this?_ ' Shinji thought as his beautiful lover eventually managed to get him naked. He quickly placed the Contraceptive Spell on them before they began.

Shinji sat up and wrapped his left hand around her right breast, his mouth latching onto her left breast as his right hand dipped low to fondle her already moist womanhood. Hana was peaking with excitement within seconds.

"AH! SHINJI!" She gasped, her arms wrapping around his head to hold him to her. He was stimulating her in three different areas of her body, each one more sensitive than the next.

Hanas sensitive body climaxed at least twice, sending her into a state of euphoria she longed for.

Her heartbeat pulsing in her chest, Hana pushed herself through her bliss and impaled herself on her lovers manhood. She pushed him down and lifted her hips up and down, driving both herself and her lover crazy from the feelings. Shinji couldn't help but admire how sexy Hana looked as she rode him, their hands interlocked which she used for support. However, he could feel she was squeezing him with her inner folds like they were hands themselves.

"Hana! That's... Incredible!" Shinji gasped as he enjoyed the pleasure and watched her breasts bouncing up and down.

"I Know! I've been waiting to try this out!" She gasped as she continued to move her hips.

"Try it... out? What... (oh!) Do you mean?" Shinji groaned.

"My aunt... gave me this book... on mating techniques! I... thought she was teasing me." She said as the pleasure was building up inside her.

"I... see." Shinji said, his body sweating like Hanas was.

The pair suddenly came together in a chorus of joy and fulfillment.

"Oh, Shinji." Hana sighed as she snuggled deeply against her lover.

Shinji just wrapped his arms around her shoulders and drifted off to sleep. He could tell her about their adventure tomorrow.

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(The Next Day)

Juna Doma and the wolf girl, Tomoe Inui, had arrived at the Silver Eagle Inn.

Juna had come to visit her niece, and was happy to see that Shinji and his party had returned, and that they were alive and well. She noticed how happy and energetic Hana was when Shinji was around. She was also a little jealous that her niece had found such a cute lover.

She noticed that Ayl was sitting at one of the tables with Tia and another girl she didn't know. Shinji was helping Hana with their meals in the kitchen.

 _'I wonder if they are rivals for Shinji?'_ Juna thought as she saw them chatting.

Hana saw her aunt and Tomoe when they came out of the kitchen.

"Auntie! What are you doing here?" Hana asked her aunt once she had come over to Ayl's table.

"I'm here to help you get ready for your date with Shinji." Juna said.

"Really? You're not here to tease me? Or try to get more gossip out of me?" Hana asked.

"Well, that too." She said with a smile as Hana just sighed.

"We have to go to the Guild to report on our mission, get the items we recovered from Mirians tower appraised, and get Lilia registered to our party. And then I need to stop by at the Rangers barracks. Unless something urgent comes up, I think we will be able to have a free day." Ayl said.

The group looked happy at hearing that.

Juna couldn't help but notice how Tomoe kept looking at Shinji. Like a far-away forlorn expression. Plus the way her tail was twitching made the songstress/Inn owner wonder what her musician was thinking.

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Ayl, Shinji, Tia and Lilia arrived at the Adventurers Guild headquarters a few minutes after having left the Silver Eagle Inn.

"Alright then, I'll deliver our report to Krulcifer and get Lilia registered into our party. Shinji, Tia, I want you to take the items we found in Mirians Tower to Bolgan and get them evaluated." Ayl said.

"We can do that." Tia said while Shinji nodded.

The second they entered the Guild headquarters, Krulcifer was happy to see them, as well as glad to see that Lilia was alive and well.

"Welcome back, Ayl! I'm relieved to see everyone alive and well. And you found Lilia as well." The blue-haired receptionist said, seeing the female archer behind them.

"Yes. And it was a welcome end." Ayl said as she handed the woman the paper with the hunters signatures on it, to verify that they had found them all.

"The Guildmaster will be pleased to see this." Krulcifer said with a smile as she looked over the report.

Shinji and Tia had brought over the items from the tower to Bolgans table.

"Miss Tia. And Shinji, my boy. How are you today?" Bolgan asked.

"Very well. We have some items from our last quest, but we have to enter the storeroom since there is a lot of it." Tia said as Shinji hid his grimace. Sometimes Bolgan scared the crap out of him with his overly friendly behavior. He thought that Bolgan liked him in a way he wasn't supposed to.

Bolgan took nearly an hour to evaluate all the stuff they had brought to him.

There were 20 different spell books and over a hundred pages of research notes. A small cache of regular weapons (daggers, knives, a sword, etc.) and unique looking arrows. A fire magic staff that Bolgan hadn't seen in years, and needed time to find out where it came from. He was a little upset, but understanding, that the trinket that could turn people into stone was destroyed. The cloak that hid the wearers scent and some regular clothes were easy enough to evaluate.

"Well?" Tia asked the man once he was done.

"Well, the books and notes are going to take some time to properly evaluate. The fire staff is going to need some research, too. The rest of the items are easy enough."

"What will you give us for them?" Tia asked.

"Well... for all these items... I'd say...42 gold and 4 silvers?"

The pair looked at each other, a little stunned by the price. They hadn't expected so much for it all. Had they known the true extent of the spell books and research notes, they might have asked more.

While Tia and Shinji were waiting for Bolgan to get their items evaluated, Ayl got Lilia registered as a member of her party. Both she and Lilia had to fill out the paperwork for that.

The Guildmaster was quite interested in the report Ayl submitted about Shinji using water magic to kill a Mist Creature. Something like that had never been done before.

Ayl and Shinji then went to the Rangers headquarters while Tia and Lilia went to get their weapons examined if they needed maintenance. Brighid was stunned when Shinji pulled out the sack which had the head of the sorceress whom Ayl had reported dead years ago, but with no body as proof there was skepticism to this report. But with her head, Brighid gave Ayl the reward 300 gold coins. Shinji received 100 of the coins and Tia would receive the other 100.

When Shinji and the others got back to the Silver Eagle, they were met with a stunning sight.

Hana was standing in between Juna and Tomoe, wearing a white and silver sundress with a small coat and matching shoes. She was also wearing the bracelet Shinji had given her.

"What do you think, Shinji?" Hana asked.

"Hana... you look... beautiful!" Shinji replied.

She blushed as he praised her.

Lilia and Tia couldn't help but feel jealous at how pretty the young woman looked. Lilia especially, since her body didn't have the same charm as Hana, in her opinion.

"Are you ready for our date Shinji?" Hana asked shyly.

"I am. Shall we?" He asked and offered his arm to her and she took it before they walked out of the inn.

"Have fun you two." Juna told them.

"Anybody up for some dices?" Ayl asked when the door closed.

"Shinji, let's go to the market and do some shopping." Hana said as she lead the way, holding on to his arm.

"Sure. Did your mother make that outfit?" He asked after he agreed to her suggestion.

"Auntie had mother make this on her suggestion. She also said that she once saw a noble wearing a dress like this so she thought it would be perfect for our date." Hana answered.

"Your aunt has a good taste. You look really good in it." He complimented.

"Hehe, I knew you would like it." Hana said happily.

They arrived at the market after a few minutes and looked around, seeing people coming and going from stalls and shops and even a few performers doing juggling, acrobatics or playing music. Hana wanted to see some acrobatics and they watched how the two cat-eared acrobats did some amazing feats of agility. They applauded with the crowd and even gave them a tip for the show.

They went to the general store and looked around. The store had mostly food and non alcoholic drinks on sale, but there were some kitchenware on sale, so Hana bought some knives to use in the kitchen while Shinji bought a bottle of raspberry juice.

Storing the purchases to his Darkness storage, they went to the painter Shinji had seen when Ayl showed him around the city and had their portrait made. Hana looked quite happy that she now had such a great portrait of her and her lover. The portrait was of her sitting next to Shinji, her arms around his left, the pair of them smiling.

After storing the portrait in his storage, they went over to listen to some music played by a performer at the fountain and gave him some money when the melody ended.

As they walked along the streets, Shinji heard a few people saying something that sounded like: "Lucky brat, die in a fire, explode, so jealous." He was sure that they were jealous of him because he was walking with a beauty like Hana.

"What should we do now Shinji? I can't think of anything right now." Hana said with a distressed face.

' _No wonder, since this city doesn't have much for entertainment_.' Shinji thought as he tried to think of something. ' _No karaoke bar, no carnival, not even a movie theater_.'

"How about if we outside the city gates and try out some magic?" He suggested.

"Try out magic?" Hana asked.

"Have you ever tried to use attack spells?" Shinji asked and she shook her head. "How about if I teach you a couple of attack spells and see how powerful it is?" He clarified.

Hana thought about it for a few seconds. "I haven't stepped outside of the gates since I was 5 and I have never tried to use magic for attacking. Now I want to try it out." Hana said, getting excited about the idea.

"Let's go then." Shinji said and they hurried to the gate.

It took the a few minutes to get to the open field where Ayl had trained Shinji in using water magic. There were a couple of dead trees and rocks lying around, Ayl had told Shinji that there was fire a few years ago that could have turned into a huge forest fire if some adventurers who were returning from their quest hadn't been close. The reason what started the fire remains unknown to date, according to Ayl.

"Alright then Hana, I'll show you a few examples of offensive water magic. You know how magic works right?" Shinji said.

"I know the principle of how to use magic. I have never used it to attack anything." Hana replied.

"Alright. Let's start with a simple attack spell. Ice Spear." Shinji said and created a long, thin rod of ice with a sharp tip and launched it towards the nearest dead tree, which went through the tree halfway.

This was the first time Hana had seen attack magic being used on something, which made her quite amazed now that she realized what kind of destructive power she actually had at her disposal. Ayl had offered to show her how to do this, but because of her ailments Hana had been hesitant to learn.

"That was amazing Shinji!" Hana said.

"Is this the first time you see attack magic?" He asked.

"Yes. I have heard about it, but I have never seen or used it. Let me try now." She replied excitedly and readied herself.

She imagined the same kind of spear Shinji had shown and said: "Ice Spear." And launched it at the tree, going halfway in like his spear.

"Whoa. That felt great, surprisingly." Hana said and readied another spear.

Half an hour later, Hana was hunched down, having used up all her mana and the tree had about 30 ice spears sticking on it.

"How do you feel Hana?" Shinji asked, having just watched how his lover had enjoyed herself throwing ice spears on the tree.

"I feel tired. But I had a lot of fun." Hana replied, panting.

"Mana Recovery." Shinji said and his healing power coursed into Hana, which made her gasp from pleasure.

"Aah! What was that Shinji?" She asked, feeling better.

"A healing spell that accelerates mana recovery." He answered.

"But I take it that it doesn't instantly recover all the mana?" Hana asked.

"I'm afraid not. We should head back now. Climb on." He said and turned his back to her.

Hana looked at him and saw that he was offering her a piggy back ride. She gladly got on and he started walking back towards the city.

"I'm so sorry about this Shinji. I got carried away with shooting magic." Hana said.

"Don't worry about it Hana. I got carried away when Ayl was training me. And carrying you is not bad at all. I wanted to try this out for a while now." He replied.

"You wanted to carry me?" Hana asked, bewildered.

"Yes. I wanted to carry you to your room when you were tired after a hard days work and give you massage." He answered.

"You want to give me a massage as well?" She asked.

"Of course. After all the delicious food you keep serving, I want to do something for you as well as thanks." He answered.

"Then I think I'll take you up on that. When we get back, would you give me a massage?" She said.

"Of course." He said and walked faster, secretly enjoying the feeling of her body pressed up against his back.

After almost 10 minutes of walking, the pair arrived at the inn where Ayl and the others were playing dices.

"Did you have fun on your date?" Juna asked when she saw her niece and Shinji.

"Yes we did auntie. But now Shinji is going to give me a massage. I talk to you later." Hana said as Shinji hurried upstairs before they could ask more question.

Tia and Lilia felt jealous that Hana would get a massage. Juna felt the same way. Tomoe looked at Shinji's direction and cursed herself for being too shy to ask the question she wanted to ask.

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Authors Notes:

Sorry this took so long to get out. The real world has been burdening us with problems. Not to mention Easter sales and celebrations and personal issues that needed to be dealt with.

Hope everyone enjoys the chapter and will let us know what you think about it.

There's also a Marvel comics reference in this story if you noticed.

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Omake 1 (from Reisfriend)

Shinji was polishing some knives at the counter of Gallus's shop while the blacksmith was delivering some weapons to the Army. It had been a few days since the last time his fans had come over and wrecked the shop because of their quarreling and Hana giving him a massage. While he did like all of them, there were times when he wished that they didn't come over to fawn over him.

The door opened to the shop and Shinji looked up to see 3 Rangers come in.

"Can I help you Rangers?" He asked, wondering why they were here.

"We need you to come with us. Cooperate and this will be over faster." One of the men said.

"I have not commited any crimes." Shinji said as the men approached him.

Then one of the men used light magic to make a blinding flash of light that blinded him for a few seconds, but when he opened his eyes, his hands were tied up behind his back with a rope and suddenly a bag was draped over his head.

Then men then lead him outside of the store and spoke to someone. "Lieutenant, suspect is in custody."

"Good, I'll take it from here. Guard the store until the owner comes back." The muffled female voice said.

About 15 minutes of walking, he was sat down on a chair and the bag was removed.

"Hi Shinji." Brighid said.

"Brighid, what is the meaning of this?" Shinji asked as she cut of the ropes.

"I simply wanted to invite to have dinner with me. And to apologize for all the trouble I have caused." She answered.

"You could have just asked. You didn't have arrest me like this." He countered, looking around and seeing a rather normal looking home.

"Well, there was a chance that you refused. And it is impossible for me to take no for an answer." She said and poured some wine for him.

"Now just eat up and drink. Later we will have some fun in the bedroom." She said as she sat down.

Shinji decided to just go with the flow and humor her. Since protesting would only drag out the whole thing.

(In the Rangers holding cells...)

"Brighid is going to pay for this." Ayl declared and the other Shinji's fans agreed.

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Omake 2 (by Gunman)

Asuka Langley Sohryu grumbled as she stepped into the Inn. She was covered in bruises and cuts. Her leather suit looked like it had been in a shredding machine. She had lost her sword, and half of her body was covered in goblin blood.

Misato Katsuragi was in no better shape, but at least she still had her sword.

"I'm telling you, Asuka..." Misato started to say.

"I don't want to hear it, Misato!" Asuka snapped.

"We wouldn't be in this mess, if you hadn't..."

"I Wasn't Responsible For Shinji And Rei Leaving Us! You're Half To Blame!" the redhead archer shouted.

"I don't even remember that!" the purple-haired fighter said.

"Because You Were Passed Out Drunk!" Asuka growled.

"And Thanks To You, I Can't Get Drunk Because Shinji Isn't Here To Heal Me!" Misato all but roared.

Misato dropped two bags on the table as they both sat down.

"At least our mission was successful." Misato said.

"A couple bags of gold and jewels. It'll cost all of it just to repair our armor and get me a new sword." Asuka scoffed. "Not to mention a healing potion."

"We need a replacement healer and maybe a new druid." Misato said.

"No 'Maybe' about it. We need both." Asuka groaned.

"If you hadn't driven Shinji and Rei off..."

"Oh, don't start!"

(Across the city...)

"That went better than expected." Shinji said as he and Rei walked out of the large mansion.

"Healing the Prime Ministers ailing granddaughter in order to curry favor with The Guild in exchange for better missions was smart, Shinji-kun." Rei said.

"Is something wrong, Rei-chan?" he asked, noticing her terse mood.

"Did she need to flirt with you so much?" the half-elf asked.

"I did her a favor. She was just being nice." the cleric healer said with a blush.

"Placing your hand on her chest was 'being nice'?" the druid asked.

"Sorry. It won't happen again." he said.

"It had better not, or I will refuse the mission request outright."

"Well, unless we meet a skilled swordsman and an archer, we won't be able to take any more important or dangerous missions. Healing people, or helping them collect herbs, or helping them grow their crops, is all we can do now." Shinji explained.

(Outside the city...)

Adventurers Keita Asari and Musashi Lee Strasberg were heading towards the city on foot.

"I hope we can find work here." Keita said.

"Let's hope someone needs a druid." Musashi said.

"And a clerical healer." Keita added.

A few miles down the road, riding a single horse and heading towards the city, were a pair of attractive young women.

"My butt hurts!" Mana Kirishima grumbled as she adjusted her bow and quiver of arrows on her back.

"Stop complaining. We'll be at the city soon." Mari Makinami said as she carefully caressed the hilt of her sword. "And we'll find a healer or potion maker to heal your butt."

"They had better not be some creepy old man who like to fondle young women."

"And then we need to see if there is a party we can join to take missions and make some money."

Within the city itself, four specific people sneezed at the same time.


	16. Healing Requests

_**SHINJIS NEW LIFE  
**_ By Gunman and Reisfriend

Disclaimer: We still own nothing.

Summary: Shinji puts his healing powers to use and help Ayl with her problem.

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Chapter 16  
 **Healing Requests**

Shinji's eyes opened and he noticed that he was hugging the naked Hana from behind on her bed and her alluring scent filled his nostrils.

Last night, after their date, Shinji had carried her to her room where she stripped herself down to her panties and he had given her a massage. Mainly her shoulders and legs, which felt pleasant to his touch, since her body was so soft.

Hana had moaned almost nonstop when her lover worked out the kinks in her body, which made her feel lighter and her shoulders didn't feel so stiff after he was done with the shoulder massage. Yet, it was the attention she enjoyed the most.

Hana fell asleep when he was done with her legs, since the soft pleasure made her sleepy and she was a bit worn down after their date.

Shinji was glad that his foster mother had taught him a few tricks about massage back in his world before he went to fight the Angels. Those tricks came in handy with Hana, since she enjoyed it and she even managed to say that the massages that were available at some places weren't that great.

' _I wonder how Ayl and Tia would react if I massaged them. And Lilia and maybe Juna as well?_ ' Shinji thought a bit lustfully.

"So now you're aiming for her aunt as well?" Shinji heard a familiar voice and looked behind him, only to see Lianna smirking.

"Reading my mind again?" He asked, embarrassed that his perverted thoughts were exposed to the goddess.

"Of course. As my champion there is nothing you can hide from me." Lianna stated.

"It's embarrassing if you keep reading my fantasies." Shinji said, his face turning red.

"Fufu, anyway, I came over to congratulate you on another successful quest. That was quite a pinch you were in, with that sorceress." She said.

"Yeah. Thanks to 'Dispel' I was able to break free from Mirians control." He said.

"Indeed. But the best part about this journey was your time in the bedroom with Tia." Lianna said with a smirk.

"AAHH! You looked?!" Shinji shouted in embarrassment.

"Of course. And you did quite well with her." She complimented.

"You enjoy teasing me don't you?" Shinji half shouted to the goddess.

"What can I say? It's the simple things in life that make it worthwhile. And your reactions are just so cute that I can't stop myself." The goddess said with a grin.

Shinji grimaced. Even Misato wasn't this bad with her teasing. Lianna was on a whole different level, thanks to her powers.

"But anyway my dear, I came to give you a heads up that real soon your healing powers will be needed by some people, so do your best." Lianna said and vanished back to her realm.

"Hey, wait a..." He said but he was too late. "Nngghh. Why does she always just vanish without a word?" He pouted and got dressed.

Heading downstairs and noticing that the place was empty, aside from some drink and scraps of food on the floor and some goblets lying around, he decided to clean up the mess to pass the time.

Freezing the food scraps and drink on the floor and then disintegrating the ice, they vanished from existence and he picked up the 8 goblets that were lying around. Then he cleaned the floor with water magic, which left the place practically sparkly.

Heading to the kitchen with the goblets, he was met by an unexpected person. The young girl with white wolf ears and a tail, the one who played music for Juna.

"Oh, Miss Tomoe. I didn't know you were here." He said to her.

The girl turned to look at the champion with a shy face.

"Good morning Shinji." she said.

"Are you looking for food?" He asked as he placed the goblets among the other dishes.

"Miss Juna said that I could take the leftovers from this kitchen, if there is any." Tomoe answered.

"I don't think you'll find any. There were a lot of people here yesterday, or so I heard from upstairs." Shinji said, also looking around for something to eat.

The wolf girl sighed and her ears drooped down, which looked so adorable to him that he wanted to pet her.

"But I have some raspberry juice here if you want a drink." He offered, pulling out the bottle from his storage.

Tomoe's ears perked up. "Can I?" She asked, making a hilarious face at the mention of raspberry.

"Of course. Here you go." He said as he poured the juice to a clean goblet he found in the cupboard.

Tomoe took the goblet and eagerly drank the juice.

"Ahh." She sighted after taking a sip.

Shinji smiled before he took a swig of the juice.

Tomoe snapped out of the enjoyment when a thought struck her.

' _Wait, now would be a good chance to ask him_.' She thought.

Shinji noticed Tomoe's rather intense look. "Is something wrong, Tomoe?"

"I wanted to ask you something, but I didn't have a chance before." She replied.

"What is it?" He asked, curious about what she would ask.

"Would you be willing to heal my ill cousin? I don't have much to pay you but I can earn more and pay you later." Tomoe said.

"Where is your cousin?" Shinji asked.

"He is in my room at the other inn where I... Wait, are you going to heal him?" Tomoe said.

"Yes, I will heal him and you don't have to worry about payment." He said.

"But why? You could have me pay you a lot of money." Tomoe asked, puzzled by his generosity.

"I won't take payment from you because you don't have a lot of money and you are miss Juna's important musician and Hana's friend. And I like your music, so I want to help you as thanks for playing so beautifully." He answered, but the last part made him a bit embarrassed because it sounded too cheesy.

"Ehehee. Thanks for the compliment." Tomoe said happily.

"I'll go change my clothes and then you can take me to your cousin so I can heal him." Shinji said and left the kitchen.

He hurried to Hana's room and quietly changed his clothes.

"Alright then Tomoe, I'm ready. Lead the way." Shinji said to the wolf girl as he came back downstairs.

They exited the inn and Tomoe began walking towards the Nobles District with Shinji following her.

"Do you know what's wrong with your cousin?" Shinji asked.

"It's some kind of blood disease. The healers don't have a cure for it and mother told me that her father died because of it." Tomoe answered.

"I'm sorry." He said, which made him wonder what kind of people his grandparents were, since he never met them.

"Do you think you can heal him?" Tomoe asked.

"So far I have been able to cure everyone I have used this power on. But I have never tried it on something you just described." He answered, wondering what kind of disease it was.

"I hope you can cure him. I don't have any other relatives left anymore." Tomoe said sadly.

He didn't say anything to that, but Tomoe noticed that he felt sympathy for her because of the look he had on his face.

' _Tomoe should be enjoying her youth by going to school and making friends, not having to work so hard to make ends meet_.' He thought as he recalled how kids of Tomoe's age spend their time in his previous world.

Almost 15 minutes later, they arrived at the Moonlight Inn, which was near the gateway leading to Nobles District. Along the way, Shinji had asked Tomoe about her musical talents and she answered that on her 7th birthday, her father started teaching her how to play the flute and koto, the wooden guitar he had seen her play after the salt mine quest. Shinji also thought that this world's koto and the Japanese Koto were quite different in appearance.

Entering the inn, Shinji took in the decor. Stuffed animal heads, chairs with cushions, a few paintings with the animals heads, fine tables made from sturdy looking wood and fine wines and other beverages on the shelf behind the bar counter.

All in all, the place had a finer decor compared to the commoners inn where Hana worked.

' _Even in this world, the rich get to enjoy the more finer things of life_.' Shinji thought, hating how the rich could always get all the finer and more expensive things.

He continued to follow Tomoe to the third floor and to her room, which had two even finer beds then the ones in Silver Eagle, a solid oak desk and even a big mirror on the wall and some candlesticks made from silver.

On the bed, Shinji saw a boy about his age sleeping, but he was sweating and looked like he was in pain. His hair was white like Tomoes and he had a lean build, at least from what he could tell through the blanket.

"Well, can you help him?" Tomoe asked anxiously.

"Appraise." Shinji said and the boys status screen became visible to him.

(Name: Tomoya Inui. Age: 15. Race: Wolfman. Condition: Leukemia. Required chant: Cure Heal.)

Tomoya's chest had the green light on it in Shinji's eyes, so he focused his healing power there and said: "Cure Heal."

The healing power surged into Tomoya and he gasped in his sleep as the healing took effect. Tomoe just watched in awe. When he was healed, his eyes opened and he sat up.

"Uuhh. What happened? The pain is... The pain is gone." Tomoya said with a puzzled look, looking at his chest.

"Tomo!" Tomoe shouted and jumped on him.

"Tomoe. What happened?" The boy asked.

"Shinji healed you." She answered.

Tomoya turned to look at Shinji, who said "Appraise." His appraisal now read that Tomoya had no conditions.

"You healed me?" Tomoya asked Shinji.

"Yes. Your cousin asked me to heal you, so I did. My name is Shinji Ikari. Pleasure to meet you Tomoya." He said.

"I am grateful. But how much do we owe you?" Tomoya asked.

"You don't owe me anything. I did this to help Miss Juna, who has been kind to me and you are important to her." Shinji replied, not sure what else to say.

"Sounds fishy. There must be something you want." Tomoya said, skeptical about Shinji's reasons.

"Tomo! He said he didn't want any payment for this because he wants to hear me play music!" Tomoe shouted to him.

"And I also have more money then I need. I just wanted to help Tomoe." Shinji said.

"I still don't buy it." Tomoya said, still not believing Shinji.

"In that case, I'll take my leave then." Shinji said and walked to the door.

"Shinji!" Tomoe shouted.

He didn't answer, instead he just closed the door and kept on walking. On his way out, he felt quite annoyed that Tomoya was skeptical about him after he just saved his life, but in a way he understood. In a world where many illnesses were incurable by medicine, the ones who could heal those illnesses could extort money from the ill as much as they wanted, but someone who heals them and asks for nothing was bound to look suspicious.

' _Oh well, maybe he will come around in time_.' Shinji thought as he exited the inn.

"Wait Shinji!" He turned to look and saw Tomoe.

"What?" He asked.

"I'm sorry for my cousin. He is skeptical about people who help others for free, because his family was cheated by merchants long ago." Tomoe explained.

"Yeah, I figured as much. I'm a little annoyed, but I understand his reasons." He replied.

"Thank you again for saving him. I'll try to come to the Silver Eagle to play sometime as thanks." Tomoe offered.

"I'd like that, but do so only when you have the time." Shinji countered.

"I will. And again, thank you." Tomoe said and ran back to the inn.

He watched her go before he turned and walked towards Silver Eagle, thinking what he should do next. After a minute of thinking and walking, he decided to go back to Hana and tell her about their adventure since he didn't get to tell her yesterday.

The silver Eagle was only a few feet away until he heard someone coughing.

(Cough, Cough!)

"Huh? Hey, are you alright?" Shinji asked as he looked to his right.

The man looked to be about late 60's, with a grayish beard and dressed in simple gray and brown clothing, and was struggling to stand.

"I need a healer. Please." the man wheezed.

"Appraise." Shinji said and the screen came up.

(Name: Jobba Zandu. Age: 67. Race: Human. Condition: Asthma. Required chant: Heal.)

"Heal." Shinji said, his powers surging into the mans lungs.

Within seconds, the man was breathing easily.

"What? How did... you are a healer?" Jobba asked.

"Obviously." Shinji said with a smile.

"Thank you, sir. May I ask who you are?"

Before Shinji could say anything, he heard someone shouting his name once again.

"Shinji!" the voice sounding familiar.

He noticed that it was Lilia.

"Lilia? What's wrong?" He asked the archer.

"I need you to come to the Guild immediately!" She said and grabbed his hand and started running towards the Guild.

"What's going on!?" Shinji shouted to her as she kept pulling him with her.

"Krulcifer is injured and she needs your help!" She answered, running to the Guild HQ.

He didn't say anything before they were at the Guild. They were just outside building where Lilia started explaining.

"As I said, Krulcifer is injured and waiting for the healer to come back, but that could take hours. So you have to heal her." Lilia said.

"What's wrong with her?" He asked.

"Sharis told me that Krulcifer's bones have been weak since her birth. But luckily, she only had six instances where she had a broken bone in her whole life. Sharis also said that she was coming to work with Krulcifer and Bolgan, and Krulcifer tripped and broke her arm." Lilia answered.

Shinji was surprised to say the least. He never thought that Krulcifer had an illness like that.

"Then I better hurry." He said and went in with Lilia.

The lobby of the guild didn't have adventurers looking at the quest sheets, but Bolgan and Sharis were at their usual places, both of them glancing at the stairs with a worried look.

Heading upstairs with Lilia, he noticed the door which said 'Healer' and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" They heard the pained voice from the room.

"It's Shinji and Lilia, may we come in?" He asked.

"If you must." Krulcifer said.

They entered the healers room and noticed Krulcifer sitting on one of the beds, holding on to her left arms with a pained look.

"Shinji, Lilia, why are you here?" She managed to asked.

"I came to help you. Appraise." He said as he looked at the bluenette's status screen.

(Name: Krulcifer Einvolk. Age: 26. Race: Human. Conditions: Distal radius fracture. Brittle bone disease. Required chants: Recovery, Heal.)

The lights were on her arm and stomach.

"What are you...? AH!" Krulcifer said as Shinji placed his hand on her arm and chanted 'Recovery', which made her gasp from pleasure as her arm was healed.

Krulcifer started moving her arm when he removed his hand from her arm.

"It's healed." She gasped.

"Are you feeling better, Miss Krulcifer?" He asked.

"I am, but how...?" She started.

"I have the full blessing from the Goddess of Healing. I wrote that on the papers you had me fill out. Didn't you read them?" He answered.

"No, but now I am definitely reading them. Thank you so much Shinji." She replied.

"If you want, I can also heal the disease that makes your bones easy to break." He offered.

"EH!? You can do that?" Krulcifer gasped.

"I can. So what do you say?" He replied.

"PLEASE DO!" She shouted desperately.

"Very well." He replied and placed his hand on her stomach, which made her flinch. "Heal." He said and she gasped from pleasure yet again when the healing power coursed into her.

Few seconds passed and he removed his hand. "Appraise." He said and her status screen became visible again and it said she had no conditions.

"Did it work?" The blunette asked when she calmed down from the pleasant feeling.

"My Appraisal says you're cured now." Shinji answered.

She stood up and hit the wall with her fist. THUMP. "OUCH!" She gasped from the pain.

"Are you alright Krulcifer?!" Shinji gasped when she suddenly hit the wall and started waving her hand around because of the pain.

Her knuckles had turned red, but she wiggled her fingers and rolled around her wrist.

"My bones aren't broken. Hitting the wall hurt, but my bones didn't break. I'm really cured?" She asked with an amazed look on her face.

"Recovery." He said and healed her hand. "Yes, you don't have to worry about your bones breaking so easily anymore. But don't hit walls anymore."

Krulcifer blushed a little in embarrassment at that.

Lilia smiled because of the scene. Witnessing someone using their Goddess given abilities to help people was a rare privilege, but she also liked seeing that there were good people like Shinji, who helped others because they wanted to and didn't look down on people for anything.

Krulcifer suddenly hugged him. Feeling her slender body and B-cup breasts pressing against him felt good to him and she smelled like vanilla, which also felt pleasant to his sense of smell.

"Thank you Shinji! I can now live without having to be careful all the time!" She cried as she thanked him.

"It was my pleasure miss Krulcifer." He replied, not wrapping his arms around her even when he felt the urge to do that.

She released him and pulled out a gold coin. "Take this as thanks Shinji." She said and offered the coin to him.

"You don't have to..." He started but was interrupted.

"No, No, No! I can't leave this unpaid. You deserve at least this much for making my life better. And this is a standard healers fee for injuries like this." She protested.

"Well, since you insist." He said and took the coin. While he did have more then 120 cold coins, he figured that she wasn't going to let him go unless he took the coin.

"Again, thank you Shinji." She said after he pocketed the coin.

"Take care now miss Krulcifer." He said and turned to leave.

"See you soon when you take on another quest with Ayl." She said before he exited with Lilia.

"See you then." He replied and closed the door.

"Once again Shinji, you are amazing." Lilia said as they left the building.

"Thank you Lilia. I'm glad I could help her." He replied, feeling good that the cute archer complimented him.

"It's a good thing that I was just finished with my practice when they brought her in, otherwise she would have suffered longer." Lilia stated as they headed to the Silver Eagle.

"Yes, it was quite lucky that you happened to see it and bring me to her." He replied.

"But anyway Shinji, would you mind telling me about your date with Hana?" Lilia asked suddenly.

"I don't mind. This is what happened." He started telling her what he and Hana did on their date.

They stopped at the street stall near the Guild where they bought roasted rabbit skewers and ate as he told her about his date. And when he was done, Lilia felt jealous.

"Ngh! I wish I could go on a date like that." She grumbled to the young champion.

"But I think that this city doesn't have much for entertainment. We couldn't do much." He commented.

"True. But what kind of new entertainment could they invent?" Lilia wondered.

' _I could probably tell you a hundred different forms of entertainment, from my world, but I can't. I really wish I could_.' He thought.

"I guess there really isn't much. And people have their own ways of amusing themselves. What do you like to do Lilia?" He asked.

"I like swimming." Lilia answered after some thought. An answer like that made him think that in this world the only thing people did was work and only rarely had any kind of fun. He also thought that as a Pantherian, she wouldn't like getting wet.

"I like reading." He said. "And music. And even..." He paused, realizing he was going to say 'video games', but realized she wouldn't know what that meant.

"What about physical activities?" Lilia asked.

"I guess I like swimming too, but not alone." He replied. He had learned how to swim back in his world since it was mandatory in high schools. But swimming alone was boring.

"Maybe we could go swimming together sometime Shinji." She suggested.

"I would like that." He replied, then he wondered what kind of swimsuits this world had.

"Let's go eat a proper lunch." She said and they started walking to the inn.

Entering the inn and noticing that the place was still empty, until Juna emerged from the kitchen. "Oh there you are Shinji. Good timing. Have a seat."

Taking a seat with Lilia at Juna's command, they waited for a bit and Juna came from the kitchen with a tray which had sandwiches and boiled eggs and a small cup full of salt.

"Tomoe told me how you cured her cousin from the illness he had." Juna said as she sat down.

"Yes, she asked me if I could help him. Good thing that I could." He replied and took one sandwich.

"I apologize for his rude behavior. To act like that to someone who just saved his life..." Juna started but he interrupted.

"Well...Tomoe told me why he was suspicious of me, so I didn't mind it too much." He said.

"Oh good. I was afraid that I had to cut his salary for being rude to his... savior and my client." Juna said and took an egg.

"Have you seen Tia or Ayl, Lilia?" Shinji asked the archer.

"I saw Tia heading to the blacksmith. Gallus said that her trident needed some work. Haven't seen Ayl today yet." She answered and ate one of the eggs after dipping it in salt.

"After we're done eating, how about you tell me about your date with Hana while we play some dices?" Juna asked.

"Why not." He replied to the songstress and ate.

An hour later, the trio were playing dices, in which Juna was winning.

"Your date sounds wonderful Shinji. And thank you for teaching Hana how use offensive magic." Juna said.

"I wanted Hana to have fun as thanks for all the delicious meals she keeps serving." He countered.

"Would you mind giving me a massage sometime later?" Juna asked with a teasing smirk.

"Wha-why would you ask me that?" He asked with an embarrassed look.

"Because it sounded like Hana was enjoying it so much that now I want to know what your massage feels like." She answered, still grinning.

"You listened through the door?" He asked, getting even more embarrassed.

"My curiosity got the best of me." She said.

' _AAAHHHH! Even if she is your niece, don't spy on us!_ ' He shouted in his mind, now thoroughly embarrassed.

"Well, would you give me a massage?" Juna asked, loving his embarrassed face, to which Lilia snickered quietly, though she was feeling jealous.

Before he could reply, and before Lilia could ask him for a massage as well, Hana came running down the stairs, shouting.

"SHINJI, AYL NEEDS YOUR HELP!"

The trio got surprised and looked at Hana with a puzzled look.

"HURRY SHINJI, SHE NEEDS YOUR HELP!"

He got up and ran up the stairs with Hana to Ayl's room. Lilia and Juna didn't move but got worried about Ayl.

Entering Ayl's room, he saw his mentor lying on the bed, panting and her face was red.

"What's wrong with her?" He asked Hana.

"She is in heat. Just help her Shinji." Hana replied and closed the door. He didn't have the time to react to Hana's statement before Ayl spoke.

"Shinji, come here." Ayl wheezed at him. He went over to her and looked at her with a puzzled look.

"Ayl, what's wrong?" He asked her.

"I need you to have sex with me." Ayl panted.

"HUH!?" He gasped from the sudden request.

"I'll explain later. Right now I need you to have sex with me. Hurry." She said and threw the blanket off of her, revealing that she was completely naked.

He admired her body for a few seconds and noted that her body was quite tight and athletic and her breasts were even bigger then Hana's. Her legs looked thick, but they had muscle and her skin was only a little tanned.

"But..." He started but was interrupted.

"Just hurry and pleasure me Shinji!" She screamed with great effort.

He didn't say anything and took off his clothes and moved her back to the bed before he started 'attacking' her breasts.

"HYAH!" Ayl gasped when she felt her apprentice suckling her other breast while he fondled the other.

' _I knew that her breasts were soft but this is just amazing_.' He thought as he finally got to touch his mentors naked breasts.

' _By the Gods! He is even better at this then I imagined!_ ' Ayl thought as her apprentice pleasured her.

"AH! OH OH OH! SHINJI!" Ayl moaned when his free hand went down to her pussy and he started fingering her.

Shinji stopped suckling her breasts and went down between her legs. Ayl felt embarrassment as her young apprentice stared at her private place so closely, but suddenly she started moaning even harder because his tongue was now touching her most sensitive place.

"HAAAHH! NGH! SHINJI! YES! MORE!" Ayl cried out as he teased her by licking her clit with the tip of his tongue.

 _'She's even tastier then Tia._ ' He thought as he tasted his mentor. His hands went to her buttocks and he started to fondle them as his tongue went inside her.

"WAAAAAAAHHHH! SHINJI! OOHH! AAAHAH! YES! THAT'S..OH!" Ayl screamed when she felt him licking her insides and her G-spot that she or Shinji didn't know about. She grabbed the sheets and her thighs closed around his face.

' _This feels way too good! I can't hold out!_ ' Ayl thought, feeling her orgasm building up.

"SHINJI! I'M GYAAAH!" Ayl screamed yet again as she exploded all over Shinji's face.

' _I'm getting pretty used to this. Especially since the women of this world are so tasty._ ' He thought, licking some of her cum from his face and cleaning off the rest with water magic.

"HAAH! HAAH! Shinji, that felt so good!" Ayl commented as she panted in the afterglow of her climax.

"Are you feeling better now Ayl?" He asked as he stared at her face, which looked like she was about to go insane.

"Only a little bit. I need more, but before that, let me return the favor." She said and sat up, pushing him down.

"Ayl, what are you...AH?" Shinji gasped when she took his dick in her hand and started stroking it.

"I will pleasure you before we get to the good part." She replied and he didn't have the time to protest since Ayl took his member in her mouth and started sucking it.

"WAH! AYL!" Shinji cried out in pleasure of his first blowjob.

' _Holy shit! My first blowjob and with a beautiful big breasted elf! Why is she so good at this!?_ ' He thought as she moved her head up and down, rubbing her lips against the length of his dick while twirling her tongue around it.

' _He is even tastier then I thought_.' Ayl thought as she continued to pleasure her apprentice.

Shinji felt his heart pounding like crazy as his elven friend sucked him and gave him pleasure that was even better then he had imagined.

"OOH! AYL... SO GOOD!" Shinji moaned from the pleasure.

Taking his dick out of her mouth with a wet pop, she began licking the head while stroking it.

"GUH!" He gasped from the sudden switch of technique. It didn't last long because she took his cock back in her mouth, only this time she deep-throated him.

"AAHH! OH MY... AAHH!" Shinji cried out as her throat squeezed and massaged his member.

"AYL! I'M CUAAHH!" Shinji screamed as he orgasmed and came inside her mouth. His body went almost numb from the pleasure he experienced for the first time.

Ayl gulped down his sperm without any disgust. "You're pretty tasty Shinji. But we still have the good part left, so get up." She said and grabbed his hands to pull him up.

"Rest." He chanted and felt his stamina returning when Ayl had pulled him up, hugging him.

"Are you ready Shinji?" She asked after he used the chant. He still had a raging erection because she was hugging him against her soft, nude body.

"Contraceptive." He said, casting the darkness spell on both of them. "I'm ready." He said, his heart calming down a little bit.

Releasing him and turning around, she bent over the bed, supporting herself with her hands as she said. "Now put it in Shinji, but gently."

He gulped as she presented her voluptuous, yet tight ass to him. ' _Calm down me, I have to pleasure her._ ' He thought as he went closer slowly started pushing his member inside her womanhood. ' _OH GOD! SHE'S EVEN TIGHTER THEN TIA!_ ' He gasped when the head of his dick was inside her.

"WAAAHH!" Ayl screamed when his cock stretched her pussy almost painfully, but the pleasure she felt was still unbelievable.

When he was fully inside her, Ayl cried out: "Don't move Shinji! If you move now...AH!"

He didn't seem to hear her as he started moving slowly, grabbing her hips.

' _This feels so good that I can't focus properly_.' He thought.

Ayl panted like an animal as Shinji continued to move slowly, the pleasure being unlike anything she had ever felt before. And the intensity of the pleasure only increased as her body was getting more accustomed to his member.

"HYAAAGGHH! SHINJI! FASTER!" Ayl managed to scream, which he heard and increased the speed, this time the slapping of his groin against her ass was also filling the room along with their moans.

Minutes passed like seconds as the pair felt their bodies peaking with pleasure. Insane and undeniable pleasure. Their movements like a constant blur of activity.

Ayl almost collapsed on the bed because her arms were going numb from the enjoyment she was feeling.

"AAAHHH!" Ayl screamed as she came and squeezed Shinji member hard, which made him cum.

"WAAAAAHHHGGG!" Shinji cried out from the orgasm, which was more intense then the ones he experienced with Hana and Tia.

Their knees went weak and he managed to pull out of her as she collapsed on the bed, desperately panting for air as he collapsed next to her.

They both panted as their euphoria slowly died down and they panted, trying to fill their lungs with air as they tried to calm down their hearts.

It was nearly 10 minutes later when they had calmed down enough and Ayl turned to look at him, about to say something but he was passed out.

She got up and moved him into a more comfortable position and retrieved the blanket from the floor to pull it over their bodies. Then she hugged his head against her breasts and whispered 'thank you' into his ear before dozing off.

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Authors Notes:

Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, and the lemon at the end. Been pretty busy as of late.

Please read and review.

And now... some omakes!

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OMAKE!

Shinji, Ayl, Tia and Lilia had been summoned to a remote village where a strange plague had popped up. Some of their people had to be sent away before they too were infected, and sent word to the Guild for assistance.

It had taken hours for Shinji to heal everyone in the village, but he had been successful.

"I cannot thank you enough for healing all of our people." The village leader said to the quartet. "As payment for healing the entire village... I offer our villages greatest prize."

"We're honored, but... that isn't..."

"The hand of my daughter." he said.

"WHAT?!" The three female adventurers gasped.

"Oh, thank you, but you really don't..." Shinji started to protest, until the woman in question came to stand before him. "...have to?" He gasped when he saw her.

The woman was tall and shapely with bright red hair and bright green eyes. She was maybe taller than Brighid and was wearing a short, green dress that showed off her shapely legs, clean and unblemished skin and a body that would put most super models to shame. (AN: Think Red Sonja-type)

' _Where has this woman been the whole time I was healing the village?_ ' He gasped.

"This is my daughter, Elanna. I had her sent out of the village when the plague struck us." The leader said. "But once everyone was healed, I sent for her immediately. She is very anxious to marry."

"And to such a cute young man." Elanna said with a smile.

"Uh... well, I..." Shinji bubbled.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Ayl, Tia and Lilia shouted as they grabbed Shinji, lifted him over their heads, and carried him out of the village as fast as they could.

The village leader and his daughter looked shocked.

"HEY! Come Back Here!" Elanna shouted and gave chase to the group.

The village leader sighed, then started laughing.

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OMAKE 2 (the three female characters are actually from 'Empires and Puzzles' game.)

The three women entered the ice cavern, going as deep as possible.

Ragnhild - The Exiled Warrior. She had long braided blond hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. She wore a fur-covered vest and top with no sleeves. Brown pants with leather chaps, a blue loin-cloth, brown boots with fur trim, leather arm-braces and she carried a pair of swords with her. She had a pair of painted streak-marks over her eyes.

Sigrunn - The Fierce Maiden. She had red-haired sword and shield maiden. Long braided red hair, olive-colored eyes. She wore a blue shirt with a leather vest, leather gauntlets on her arms, brown pants and thick knee-high winter boots. She carried a short broadsword and circular shield with her. She had a red mark over her left eyes.

The pair were being lead by Isarnia - The Ice Sorceress. She was dressed in a stylish and sexy blue outfit, blue knee-high boots, an open side skirt with white trim, a blue halter-top with fur lining, a pair of leather gauntlets with fur trim, and a jeweled necklace around her neck. She had icy-blue eyes and silver white hair. She had a youthful face despite her age.

The trio paused when the ice sorceress sensed what they were looking for. They found themselves staring at the frozen form of a young man wearing brown and silver leather armor, and carrying a pair of curved-looking knives.

"The rumors were true." Isarnia gasped as she placed her hand on the ice. "He is real."

"You know who this guy is?" Sigrunn asked.

"His name is Shinji Ikari. Blessed by the God of Metal and the Goddess of Healing. But thought lost over a thousand years ago."

"He was a great hero?" Ragnhild asked.

"Not a hero. A champion. He helped many people, cured sickness and disease, and played a key role in the salvation of this planet."

"A thousand years ago. What happened?"

"A great and terrible evil unleashed the ancient Titans upon the people of this world. It destroyed many innocents, before the heroes of that time banished it back to their prison."

"They banished the evil. What about the Titans?"

"Without the evil to guide them, the Titans fell into dormancy. They slumber even now."

"So... what do we do with this guy?" Sigrunn asked.

"We came here because you received a vision from the Goddess of Healing. She told you that this guy could help solve a lot of problems." Ragnhild said.

"Yes. Which is why, we will free him." Isarnia said as she waved her staff around and blasted the ice around him.

The two warrior maidens just watched and stared as the ice sorceress freed the ancient champion. Once she was done, they saw the young man in question lying face-down in the melted ice. Ragnhild raced over first and turned him over. She stared at his face, his chest slowly rising and falling.

'He's cute!' The blond warrior thought.

"Ohhhhh..." He groaned.

"Take it easy. You have been asleep for a thousand years. You're weak." She said to him.

"Heal." He said, his entire body glowing as she continued to hold him.

"What... happened. Where am I? Who are you?" He asked as the trio of women gathered around him.

"There's a lot to explain. But let me be the first to welcome you back... Champion of the Gods."


	17. The Ill Princess

_**SHINJIS NEW LIFE  
**_ By Gunman and Reisfriend

Disclaimer: We don't own anything, not even our lives.

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Chapter 17  
 **The Ill Princess**

It had been six hours since Shinji had sex with his mentor Ayl and they were currently sitting on a rock at the burned forest where Ayl had taught Shinji how to use his water magic, and where Shinji had taught Hana about offensive magic.

When they had woken up, Ayl asked Shinji to use his water magic and 'Clean' to wash their bodies and teeth and Ayl told their friends that she wanted to talk with Shinji alone so she took him to the place they were currently at.

"Ayl, would you explain why you needed me to have sex with you?" Shinji asked to break the silence, since Ayl was awfully quiet.

"As Hana said, I was in heat." Ayl replied with an embarrassed face.

"Elves have mating seasons?" Shinji asked, surprised by the revelation.

"Something like that. But to explain it properly, our procreation desires grow at certain times of the year." Ayl clarified.

"Procreation desires?" Shinji asked, not fully understanding.

"Since we elves have long life spans, our desire for procreation is low through most of the year. But at certain time during the year, our desire grows and it keeps on growing unless that desire is taken care of." She continued.

Shinji looked at her with a confused expression.

"Think about an empty bottle. Right now, my bottle is empty, but next year, around this time, my bottle will have some liquid in it, but it's manageable. And a year after that, some more will fill up that bottle and the bottle keeps getting fuller until it overflows." Ayl explained.

"So you haven't taken care of your desire for a long time and it became unbearable, so you needed my help to take care of it." Shinji said, now understanding her reasons.

"Yes. I haven't taken care of it since... Vanir's death." She said sadly.

Shinji just looked at his mentor sadly, remembering that Vanir had been killed 14 years ago according to Ayl. A long time, especially for an elf.

"Do you want to talk about him?" Shinji asked.

"Not really. But...you deserve to know. Vanir and I were born 2 weeks apart and our parents were friends so we spent a lot of time together growing up. Our relationship became more and more intimate as we grew older and we became lovers eventually. Vanir wanted to stay in the forest where we grew up, but when I told him that I wanted to leave the forest and become an adventurer, he didn't object. Instead he came with me, because being with me was more important to him then being with his family and friends." Ayl paused and took the bottle of raspberry juice that Shinji offered, taking a sip from it.

"We traveled to Ithalan and registered as adventurers. We did all the quests together and eventually we became A-ranks. Then one day we took a quest where we had to find missing people and that's when we encountered Mirian. She escaped the first time we met and we encountered her many times on quests where missing people were involved. The last time we met was when she killed Vanir and evidently faked her death. There was an explosion in a cave and... I thought that she was dead." Ayl paused again, looking down on the ground.

Shinji felt sympathy for his mentor. He could now understand why she wanted to kill the sorceress so badly.

"But now that I killed her with my own hands, I can finally tell his parents that their son is avenged. And now I can move on from that part of my life." Ayl added sorrowfully, taking the bottle to get another swig.

"I am sorry Ayl." Shinji said.

"Don't be, Shinji. It was thanks to you that I could kill her." She said and hugged him suddenly.

"Ayl?" He asked as she moved to sit on his lap while hugging him. Though he did enjoy getting hugged by his sexy elven mentor like this. And her light body on his lap felt good and comfortable.

"Could we just stay like this for a while?" She asked, snuggling deeper into him.

"Sure." He replied and hugged her back, breathing in her smell, which was quite pleasant for him.

Ayl and Shinji just sat there for half an hour before she finally released him and stood up.

"Thank you Shinji, I feel better now."

"Don't mention it Ayl. Doing this much for you is not a problem." Shinji said.

"But still, thank you. I'm really glad that I met you at Hearth Inn." She said with a smile.

"And I'm glad that I met you as well. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been there." Shinji said, now wondering if Lianna and Galac placed him near the said inn so he would meet Ayl.

"Anyway Shinji, would you mind telling me more things about your world?" She asked, her mood returning to normal.

"What would you like to know? More foods perhaps?" He asked, remembering her reaction when he told her about some of the foods of his world after the goblin fight at the salt mine.

"Tell me about your worlds transportation methods this time. How do people move and how they transport goods in your world?" Ayl asked with a curious look.

"That's a pretty tall order, but we have things like these." Shinji said and started explaining the vehicles of his world to her for the next 4 hours.

Everything he knew, from cars, trucks, airplanes, helicopters, submarines, boats, ships, motorcycles, construction and military vehicles, trains and even space shuttles. He tried to leave nothing out, but was sure he was missing a couple of items. He didn't bother mentioning drones, since you couldn't ride on or in them. At least as far as he knew.

"Wow. You were right when you told me that your world has technology that would amaze me. Flying machines, ships that can move that fast and even underwater. And ships that can fly to space. It's unbelievable." Ayl said, completely amazed by his explanation.

Shinji just smirked at her reaction. His mentor was quite cute when she was amazed by something.

"But those 'motorcycles' intrigue me the most. A one man vehicle that's even faster then Tornac and it sounds similar to riding a horse. I certainly would like to have one of those." Ayl stated.

Shinji snickered. An elf riding a motorcycle. That would be a first.

"Guh!" Ayl suddenly gasped, holding her stomach.

"Ayl?! What's wrong?" He asked, worried when she almost buckled over.

"My desire is not yet completely taken care of! I need you to have sex with me some more Shinji!" Ayl said through gritted teeth.

"Then let's hurry back and..." He started but was interrupted.

"No! We do it here!" She said and took his hand and started to drag him towards the foliage at the edge of the burned area.

"But won't that be dangerous?" He asked, worried about the wolves and other monster that could be roaming around. Not to mention other people.

Sensing his concern, Ayl calmed him.

"Don't worry. They won't come this close to the city." She said and once they were at the cover of the foliage, she took off her regular cloak, exposing her 'dominatrix swimsuit' as Shinji liked to call it. He took off his shirt and Ayl pulled down the top part of her clothes, exposing her breasts.

Shinji couldn't help but stare at them, since even Misato would have been jealous of Ayl's assets. She came closer and pushed him against a tree before she pressed her lips against his and shoved her tongue in his mouth.

"MMNNHH!" They both moaned as Ayl skillfully frenched him and rubbed her breasts against his bare chest.

' _She's so good at this_.' He thought as he allowed Ayl to have her way with him.

Pressing her body tightly against his, she felt his erection through his pants against her thigh. "Looks like you're ready to go Shinji." She said and pulled down his pants enough to free his dick.

He tried to cast the Contraceptive spell, but then he remembered that he hadn't turned it off since their previous session.

Raising her other leg and moving the piece of leather on her crotch to the side, Shinji assisted her by putting his arm under her raised leg and helped her to put his cock inside her once again. This time it went in quite easily, since she was already used to his size.

Snuggling tightly against him as he held her leg up and his other hand went to her buttock, they both gasped from the pleasure once again.

"AAAHHHH! SHINJI..." She cried out before she started moving her hips back and forth, in an almost sensuous dance.

"WHOA! AH! AYL...!" Shinji gasped from the way she moved her hips, the pleasure being unbearable in the pose they were in.

"AH! OH! AAHH!" Ayl moaned as his dick grinded against her insides, the pleasure building up and making her legs feel like jelly.

' _She feels even tighter in this pose_.' Shinji thought as Ayl continued to pleasure both of them.

Ayl, still being sensitive because of her lingering desire and their previous session, was tightening up inside as she continued to writhe against him. And after 10 minutes, she climaxed.

"HYAAAAHHH!" Ayl screamed as she suddenly orgasmed, tightening up like a vice and making Shinji cum as well.

"AAAAHHH!" Shinji shouted from the pleasure as he exploded inside his mentor.

They both panted, his manhood still inside her, until Ayl lowered her leg and pulled away from him.

Ayl was exhausted, but wasn't about to faint, so she tried to keep Shinji from passing out.

"Shinji, stay awake." She said as she took his face in her hands.

"Rest." Shinji said and felt his stamina returning as his mentor kept him awake.

She allowed him to catch his breath and when he wasn't panting anymore, she asked how he was.

"Are you alright now Shinji?" she asked.

"I'm fine. Let's head back to the Inn so we can sleep." He replied and looked around, finally noticing that it was already quite dark, possibly midnight.

"We spent more time out here then I thought. But now, thanks to you, my desires are taken care of and I don't have to worry about it now. So thank you, once again." Ayl said and lightly kissed him on the lips.

Cleaning their bodies with water magic once again and turning off the Contraceptive spell, they got dressed and walked back to the inn in silence. Once they arrived, they noted that the place was empty and quietly went to Ayl's room to sleep, where she used him as a hug pillow again.

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Waking up when morning came, Shinji noted that his head was once again hugged against the naked breasts of his mentor, who was sleeping soundly. And truthfully, he didn't want to move because he could feel nothing but comfort at the moment.

' _I just had sex with a hot elf woman twice in one day_.' He suddenly realized what he had done.

Hana didn't seem to mind about it, which made him feel relieved, even though such a thing happening would have been impossible in his world.

Getting dressed and hurrying to the bathroom, which was more like an outhouse, he took care of his morning needs and went downstairs to find Hana cleaning up the place.

"Hana, good morning." Shinji said to his first lover.

Turning to look at Shinji, she smiled at him.

"Good morning Shinji. Is Ayl alright now?" She asked.

"Yes, she is." He replied, glad to see that Hana wasn't upset with him.

"I'll have breakfast ready soon, so wait for a bit." Hana said as she picked up the last goblet and went to the kitchen. But her sudden retreat made him think that she was upset about something.

He decided to follow her to keep her company and in the kitchen he noted that Hana was making pea soup again. He didn't mind though as her meals were always delicious.

"Did Ayl explain her condition to you?" Hana asked when she noticed that her lover had followed her.

"She did. I was quite surprised to hear that elves had such a condition." He replied.

"Ayl told me about it a year ago. She also said that it's not something elves discuss with other races if they can help it." Hana said.

"Then why did she discuss it with you?" he asked.

"I guess she wanted me to feel as if I could trust her." she said with a smile.

"Are you upset Hana?" He asked, wanting to know if Hana was angry about something.

"No. Ayl needed help so I see nothing wrong with you helping her. But I am upset that I didn't get to sleep with you." Hana pouted.

"I didn't want to wake you since we came back quite late." Shinji said.

"I had a pretty restless sleep last night because you weren't with me. Ever since you started sleeping with me, I've had pleasant dreams and a good rest. It's your fault for making me addicted to sleeping with you. You have to take responsibility." Hana pouted some more.

Shinji chuckled. "And I will. But there are going to be problems that prevent me from doing so occasionally."

Hana gave him a kiss on the lips. "I know. In relationships, there will always be problems. Especially if one man has other women as well. But since I was quite lonely and without friends before you cured me, I have grown used to having company now. So being alone right now is a bit uncomfortable to me."

"I understand Hana. And again, I won't leave you." Shinji assured, to which Hana smiled and kissed him again.

While Hana was making the soup, she asked Shinji to tell her about their adventure in the Dark Forest, so he started telling her what happened.

When Shinji told Hana about the part where a werebear showed up to kill the wolves that attacked them, Hana had a scared look on her face, because she was terrified of werebears.

When the part about the lizardmen came up, she looked impressed by the way Shinji described how Tia and Ayl fought while Shinji flew his blades around to support them. The part about the Mist Creature seemed to impress her even more because even she knew that nobody had ever killed one before.

When Shinji told her about Mirian and what she did to them, she looked disgusted at first and then relieved when she heard that Mirian was dead and Ayl got to avenge her lover.

"Your adventure sound so scary Shinji." Hana said, taking the pot off from the stove, since the soup was ready.

"It was. But thanks to the blessing of Lianna, we managed to survive." Shinji said.

"Indeed. I wish I could meet her so I could thank her personally." Hana said.

'I don't think that's going to happen, if it won't amuse her.' He thought, to which Lianna laughed as she watched them from her realm, along with the Goddess of Love.

"But anyway, let's eat." Hana said and gave him a bowl.

He didn't protest and took some soup and they ate. They also drank the juice Shinji bought during their date, which was tasty to Hana.

"Are you going to take another quest today Shinji?" Hana asked when she finished her meal.

"Maybe. That depends on what Ayl wants to do today." He replied, thinking that maybe he should go wake her up so she could eat.

But he didn't have to, since Tia, Lilia and Ayl came downstairs.

"Morning Shinji." Lilia said before the others could.

But Tia upped the ante and went to give him a kiss on the cheek and saying 'morning' before going to the kitchen to get some food with Ayl and Lilia, who pouted because of the affectionate display.

The trio came back with food and Ayl spoke. "Alright then everyone, are up for the next quest?"

"I think we should take some easy quests this time, since the last one was exhausting. I was going to take an herb gathering quest. And my spear is currently being repaired." Tia said.

"I was going to take a wolf hunting quest." Lilia said.

"Very well then. We do some easy quests today and when you are finished, let's discuss about taking a more difficult quest later." Ayl agreed to their plans.

"What about you Ayl?" Shinji asked.

"Since Tia and Lilia will be doing something else, I think I'll do a recharge request." Ayl replied.

"Recharge request?" Shinji asked, not knowing what she meant.

"It's a request where adventurers recharge magic stones with mana." Tia answered.

"Oh, right." Shinji said, though he still didn't understand what that meant. Mana stones hadn't come up so far in any conversation, so he decided to ask about them later from Ayl.

"And what about you Shinji? What kind of quest would you do?" Lilia asked.

"Maybe I'll take a healing request, if there are any." He said.

"I wager that there are some. The Guild's healer is always overworked with all kinds of requests." Ayl stated.

Shinji nodded and went to get some more soup.

An hour later the adventurers were heading to the Guild to see if there were any quests they were looking for available.

Along the way Shinji asked Tia if she wanted to borrow his mithril blades if she went out to collect the herbs. Tia replied that there was no need, since she still had her knife and throwing knives as well as magic, but she was grateful for the offer.

Lilia pouted secretly because Tia received such attention and consideration from her person of interest.

Arriving at the Guild headquarters, a couple of adventurers were looking over the available quests and the usual staff (Sharis, Bolgan and Krulcifer) were at their counters. Lilia went over to the D-rank board while Tia and Shinji went to the F-rank board while Ayl went over to the B-rank board to see if there were any requests she was looking for.

Lilia picked out a request for 5 silver wolf pelts and went over to Krulcifer to inform that she would handle it and shortly after, Tia came over to inform her that she would handle the request for herbs that were used as antidotes for poisons.

Ayl had picked up the sheet she was looking for and went over to Shinji.

"Any request catch your eye?"

"No, no requests for a healer in here." Shinji said, disappointed that there was nothing he could handle by himself.

"Shinji, come here!" Krulcifer called out. Ayl and Shinji wondered what she was going to say. "Are you looking for healing requests?" She asked the boy who replied with a yes. "Well, I have a request specifically for you here." She said and handed him a sheet.

Shinji and Ayl looked it over and the sheet said that it was healing request meant for him and the person who needed a healer was the youngest princess of the Royal Family.

They both stared in disbelief at the paper before Ayl asked: "Is this a prank Krulcifer?"

"No, it's not. A messenger of the Royal Family came over and handed this request to me this morning. It seems someone in the Family saw your papers and thought that maybe you could heal the princess." Krulcifer replied.

Shinji now remembered that Krulcifer did say that one of the copies he filled out would go to the Royal Family.

"Do you know what kind of an illness the princess has?" Shinji asked, feeling quite nervous and excited at the same time about the idea of meeting an actual princess.

"No, the Family doesn't have a habit of informing the people about such things." Krulcifer answered.

"Are you going to do this Shinji?" Ayl asked.

"Is there some reason for me to refuse?" He asked.

"There could be trouble afterwards." Ayl answered.

"What kind of trouble?" He asked, not liking the sound of that.

"I'm not sure. I have never known any adventurer who met anyone from the Royal Family." Ayl said.

"Well, I am going to do this." Shinji said, hoping that this didn't come back to bite him in some way.

"Very well then Shinji. I will walk you over to the Royal District, since I am heading in that direction anyway." Ayl said.

The bluenette explained that he had to show the sheet to the guards at the gate and wished them good luck as they left. Though she did think that maybe she should have 'lost' the request so her benefactor wouldn't get in trouble. But then again, they would just send another one, Krulcifer realized.

Ayl lead Shinji towards the Royal District, telling him that while she did know where it was, she had actually never entered the said District. The reason being that no one could enter it without an invitation and she never had any business in there, which was the reason why she didn't know what would happen when he entered there. This info made him even more nervous.

He wasn't sure how long they walked, but it felt like an hour until they were standing in front of the sturdy looking gate which lead to the Royal District.

"Can you find your way back to the inn or do you want me to wait for you here?" Ayl asked her apprentice.

"Wait for me." He replied, feeling nervous.

"Alright. Finish your request and get out of there as fast as you can. Just in case." Ayl instructed.

"I'll try." He said and walked towards the gate where six guards in sturdy looking shiny armors were standing.

"Halt! What is your business here?" One of the guards asked Shinji as he approached.

"I am Shinji Ikari from the Adventurers Guild. I am here on a request." He answered and pulled out the sheet and showed it to the guard.

The guard looked over the paper and verified that the Royal Family seal on the paper was real and the signature of the messenger was also real.

"Show me your ID." The guard said.

"Open." Shinji said and his adventurer ID showed up, revealing his info to the guard.

The guard looked over the screen before responding.

"Very well. Follow me." Shinji followed the guard inside the District as the gates opened.

Shinji walked behind the guard and the other two guards walked behind him, weapons ready. Shinji thought that this was one of the security measures of the District for visitors. He looked around and noted that the lawns were well manicured and there were a few white trees around the apparent garden. The paved road they walked on was also well maintained and a few gardeners were walking around, tending to the place.

Arriving to the ornate, yet sturdy looking gate leading inside the castle, the guard banged on the gate and it opened, revealing the interior of the castle.

The interior had long carpets which looked expensive and paintings on the walls that were quite likely the previous kings and their families.

There were some guards walking around and 4 gatekeepers, who had opened the gate. Then the guard who lead him inside spoke again.

"We will now search you for weapons so put your hands up."

Shinji raised his hands, hoping that he wouldn't have to strip or they wouldn't do a cavity search. To his relief, they did only a pat down, including on his arms.

"No weapons, good. Now we need you to put this on." The guard said and handed him a collar that looked familiar. Then he remembered that it was a magic prevention collar, similar to the one Mirian had used on Ayl, except that this one was made from leather.

"Is that really needed?" Shinji asked.

"We will take it off if needed, but you won't enter the castle without it." The guard answered.

"Fine." He said and placed it on his neck and then the guard locked it with a key.

"When you leave the castle, the collar will be removed here." One of the gatekeepers said. The guard who escorted him inside handed the request sheet to one of the gatekeepers.

Shinji was getting impressed by the amount of security the place had. Then the guards who had escorted him inside left to return to their posts. One of the gatekeepers left and returned shortly with 4 other guards.

"They will escort you to the princess. If you try anything, you will be cut down." The gatekeeper warned him.

"Alright." Shinji replied simply and started to follow the guards who were going to escort him to the princess. One guard was leading the way while the other 3 were behind Shinji, their weapons ready.

He wasn't sure how long they walked the many stairs that seemed to be everywhere in the castle and he wasn't paying much attention to his surroundings, but he did notice a few maids here and there along the way. He hadn't even been to a maid cafe before and had seen them in mangas and animes only and now he saw actual maids for the first time.

He started to wonder what Ayl, Lilia, Hana, Tia, Juna and even Krulcifer would look like in maid outfits.

He snapped out of his fantasy when they arrived to a hallway with a long carpet on the floor and several doors lined up.

The guard stopped at one of the doors and knocked on it.

"Who is it?" They heard from behind the door.

"The healer has arrived." The guard replied.

"Enter." They heard and the guard opened the door. He entered first, followed by Shinji and one of the other guards while the other 2 stayed outside.

The room was quite spacious, with a large closet and a desk with some books and candlesticks and an expensive looking crystal chandelier, as well as a lavish looking bed and a wall-to-wall carpet made from fur of some sort he didn't recognize.

On the bed laid a young girl in a rather elegant white dress which looked well made and expensive. Something like silk or satin, Shinji figured. She appeared to be about 12 years old and she had long blond hair (like spun gold) and white skin, though not as white as Tia's. She looked quite thin, almost like she didn't eat much. There were also 2 maids and a middle-aged butler tending to the princess. She appeared to be sleeping, but she was sweating and had a pained expression on her cute face.

"Caulder, is this the healer?" The butler asked the guard.

"He had the sheet with the messengers signature and a seal in it." The guard replied and handed the sheet to the butler.

The butler looked over the paper and turned to Shinji. "You seem quite young. How are you going to treat the princess?"

"Goddess Lianna has given me her blessings." Shinji replied.

The guards, maids and the butler looked at him with a surprised look.

"Can you cure her?" The butler asked.

"What is wrong with her?" Shinji asked.

"It is a sickness that makes her head hurt constantly." The butler answered.

Shinji looked at the girl and said 'Appraise.'

However, nothing happened.

"Uh... can you take this off?" Shinji asked, pointing to the collar.

"Oh! Apologies." the butler said and instructed the guard to remove the collar.

Once the device was off, Shinji said 'Appraise' again.

Her status screen appeared and Shinji quickly read it.

('Yumina Belfast. Age 12. Race: Human. Condition: Migraine. Magic Eyes. Required chant: Heal.')

The butler and the others looked at Shinji as he read the screen.

"I can cure her. Step aside please." Shinji said and the maids got out of the way. The guards watched intently and got ready to cut him down if he tried anything.

There was a light on Yumina's forehead, so Shinji placed his hand there and chanted 'Heal.'

His healing power coursed into her and Yumina gasped from the pleasant feeling. When Shinji finished, her eyes opened and he noticed that her eyes had different colors. Her right eye was sapphire blue like Hana's while her left eye was emerald green.

She rose up and started feeling her head frantically.

"Laim, what happened? My head doesn't hurt anymore." The princess asked the butler.

"This young man healed your sickness my lady." Laim answered and pointed at Shinji.

Yumina turned to look at Shinji and nearly gasped. "You healed my sickness?"

"I did. Your head won't hurt anymore." Shinji replied, unsure how else to answer. And he was nervous as well.

She stared at Shinji with a curious look for a good while before she turned to the others.

"Leave us everyone." She said to them.

"But, my lady..." The butler said but was interrupted.

"I wish to speak with him alone. Don't worry, I'm not in any danger." Yumina assured and the people in the room left, leaving Shinji alone with the princess. "Please have a seat." She told him and indicated the chair that was beside the bed.

Shinji took the seat, though he was nervous.

"I am Princess Yumina Belfast, the youngest daughter of King Tristwin. May I know your name?" She asked courteously.

Shinji thought that she was quite well-mannered.

"My name is Shinji Ikari. I am an adventurer and an apprentice of Ayl Valtharos."

"Ayl Valtharos? The legendary A-rank elven adventurer?" Yumina asked with a surprised look.

"You know her?" Shinji asked, surprised that Ayl was famous enough to be known by the princess.

"I have heard her name many times from the many stories the maids and Laim have told me. I have always wanted to meet her and ask her about the outside world." Yumina explained.

"You wish to know about the outside world?" Shinji asked, puzzled by that statement.

"The members of the Royal Family are not allowed to go outside of the castle grounds, for our safety. Because of that, I have never even been to the city. I can only look at it through the windows." She explained.

Shinji went silent from that revelation. It sounded like she was a prisoner in her home.

"Would you mind telling me about yourself and the outside world?" Yumina asked with a curious and hopeful look.

"I'm afraid I don't have the time. Ayl is waiting for me outside and we have things to do." Shinji replied, since he wasn't that knowledgeable about the outside world and he didn't want to accidentally reveal anything about his metallic abilities to the princess.

"Unfortunate. I'll summon you some other time then." Yumina said with a disheartened expression.

"Summon me again?" He asked, surprised about her words.

"Not only did you cure me, you are also an apprentice of the adventurer I have wanted to meet for a long time. I am very eager to listen to your story." Yumina clarified.

"I'll see you later then." Shinji said and opened the door to leave. On his way out he thought that he could be in trouble now if the princess wouldn't leave him alone.

As the door closed, Yumina just stared at the door, thinking about her cute healer.

' _Shinji Ikari, the vassal of the Goddess Lianna and Ayl's apprentice. I'm looking forward to our next meeting_.'

Ayl met Shinji outside the castle gates, where the elven adventurer was relieved to see her apprentice unharmed and released.

Shinji told her about the guards, the maids and the butler, and the magic-suppression collar they put on him. Ayl flinched at hearing that. She hated those things. He also told her about how the princess seemed more like a prisoner than an actual member of the Royal Family. And before he left, he made sure that Liam the butler signed the healing request paper.

"It's not hard to understand. Without the ruling class of the city, Ithalan would fall into disarray. The other leaders of the city would be vying for power and control. The power struggle could turn violent and people would get killed. Ithalan would never recover from such an internal conflict." Ayl explained.

Shinji groaned at hearing that. It seemed that the balance of power, in any world, was a delicate thing.

"So, tell me about the princess." Ayl said.

"What do you want to know about her?"

"What's she like, what does she do, what was her problem?"

"I never figured you for gossip." He laughed.

"Not many people know anything about the princess, or the Royal Family for that matter. Even the Guild doesn't know much about them. I'm curious." She said with an impatient look.

"Well, the princess seems to be a fan of yours." He stated.

"Fan? Of me?" Ayl asked, confused.

"She's heard about you and wants to know about your adventures. Even wants to meet you."

"Oh. I'm... flattered." she said, unsure how to take that. She knew she was popular, but that the princess of the Royal family was a fan? That was news to her.

"That being said, why were you worried I wouldn't come out? You think they'd try to... keep me?" He asked.

"Well, yes. They know you're a healer. If they found out about the rest of your abilities..."

Shinji nodded in understanding, relieved he didn't reveal his metallic powers or his other abilities to anyone in there. Especially the Princess.

"But anyway Shinji. I think it's time to train you some more." Ayl said.

"More training? What am I going to learn now?" Shinji asked.

"I'll have you read some books and learn more about this world and the monsters in it." Ayl said.

"Alright then." Shinji said, glad that Ayl decided to teach him some more, considering that he was pretty ignorant about the world.

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Authors Notes:

Sorry this took a while to update. Reisfriend and I have been busy. Please let us know what you think about the story.

Next time, more adventures and new creatures.

Please read and review.

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OMAKE 1

The three icy heroines escorted the young man they found buried in the ice down the slopes of the tall and treacherous mountain. Shinji looked out across the landscape, seeing little change since his last battle to save this world.

"It doesn't look all that different. It's really been a thousand years?" Shinji asked.

"It has. I can understand if this is... disturbing for you." Isarnia said.

' _Ayl. Hana. Tia. Lilia. Brighid. Juna. Tomoe. Yumina_.' he thought sadly, remembering his friends and lovers. ' _But... maybe Ayl is still alive? She's an elf. They are immortal, right?_ '

"We'll be down the mountain in a couple of hours to the base camp." Ragnhild said. "The rest of our party is waiting there."

"They couldn't make it up the mountain?" Shinji asked.

"They don't like the cold all that much." Ragnhild said.

"Is something wrong, Sigrunn?" Isarnia asked the reddish-haired warrior.

"I'm confused about something. If this young man played a key role in banishing the evil and defeating the Titans... how was he imprisoned in that ice? Wasn't there anyone around who could have freed him?" the shield maiden asked.

"The details of that War were lost over the thousand years. Some say it was a vengeful sorcerer who imprisoned him within the ice, while his comrades were slain. Others say that he sacrificed himself to save his friends from a glacial super storm, imprisoned within the ice and then lost. No one is really certain." the ice sorceress said.

"Except maybe... him?"

"Perhaps." Isarnia said. "I hope the others will accept him."

"Why wouldn't they?"

"Well..."

(Base Camp)

The three women were waiting at the camp, tending to the lone fire they had made. Their tent next to the fire itself.

Layla - The poisoned blade wielder. She was dressed in a gray outfit with purple lining and a hoodie, she several knives and blades on her person. She had long dark hair and purple eyes.

Jenneh - the plant manipulator. She had long red hair, brown eyes, deep chocolate brown skin, dressed in a green skirt with a couple of animal skulls on her waist, a white strap around her chest, metal bracelets and leather wraps on her arms, and a wooden staff in her hands.

Brienne - the forest berserker. She had blue eyes and long reddish-brown hair tied in a ponytail. Dressed in a greenish outfit with white fur covering, thick boots and gloves with spikes on the knuckles, a skull necklace, and a headdress with a small skull and horns on it.

The trio had been waiting for hours as their three ice-borne allies had made their way up the mountain to locate this mysterious 'treasure'.

It was during this time that Jenneh had been trying to find out what Isarnia was searching for. Something that the ice sorceress didn't even know, apparently. She sprinkled some powder on the fire, a puff of smoke rising up, and creating a circle. The other two heroines moved up behind her to see in the image that formed within the smoke. They say their three allies, and a newcomer. A male newcomer.

"So, he's the one we're here for, huh?" Layla asked.

"Yes." Jenneh said.

"Belith will love him." Layla said.

"I wonder what Sonya or Elena would say about him?" Jenneh wondered.

"Or Vivica." Layla said.

"I wonder what makes him so special?" Brienne said. "Certainly not much to look at."

"Hey! Something happening!" Jenneh said.

(Mountain Side)

The quartet were continuing on their trek down the mountain when they were suddenly stopped. A strange rumbling started and stopped as the mountain shook beneath their feet. The quartet gasped when they saw a mountainous creature appear before them. A creature looking like a hulking mass of rock and stone taking shape before them.

"RAAAAHHHHH!" the stone creature shouted.

Isarnia blasted the creature with her ice powers, but it shrugged off the attack with ease. It punched the ground, causing a shockwave that knocked the ice sorceress back.

Ragnhild and Sigrunn were knocked back from the monster when they tried to attack.

Shinji stood his ground, staring at the beast. And he was smiling.

He threw out his hands, the large creature suddenly stopping.

"Made of Iron Ore, huh? Big mistake." Shinji said as he closed his hands together and caused the large beast to begin crumbling into a large ball. He lifted his hands up and hurled the rock creature off the cliff and down into the river valley below.

"What the..." Sigrunn gasped as she saw it.

"I thought he was a healer!" Ragnhild said.

"He has the full blessing of the Goddess of Healing, but also of the God of Metal." Isarnia explained.

(Base camp)

The three heroines were looking at the fight through the smoke ring, all of them wide-eyed from the fight they just witnessed.

"Okay. Now I'm interested." Brienne said with a smirk.

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OMAKE 2

Shinji hated politics.

Sure he understood their usefulness, but when you are a pawn of said politics it was less fun.

Currently he was sitting in a large courtroom where the Royal Family and The Guild were arguing over who gets to have him.

"He is a registered member of the Guild! He should be returned!" the Guildmaster stated.

"He is simply too valuable to be anywhere else but at the discretion of the Royal Family." the Royal advisor stated.

"You Just Want Him To Be Your Prisoner!" Ayl shouted.

"The Royal Family will highly compensate the Guild for him." Liam stated.

"He Is Not For Sale!" Tia shouted.

Shinji groaned as he listened to the arguments go back and forth.

The Guild saw him as highly useful, given his blessings by two Gods. The Royal Family saw him the same way ever since they found out fully what he can do.

The real problem is that he wasn't being given a chance to voice his own opinion. This whole thing was just a pissing contest between two groups who wanted him for their own purposes.

While many of the Guild members would have happily given Shinji to the Royals just so that they could be rid of a high-vauled rival for the affections of some of their guild-mates (Such as Ayl and Tia) they also realized that Shinjis powers were an asset, and to let the Royals have him would have been to weaken the Guild itself.

The Royal Family, seeing the powers that Shinji possessed, both as a healer and for his metal control power, would have wanted him to be at their beck and call. However, they would never say that. To that end, they had decided to go with his own attributes and deemed him valuable to their cause: to strengthen the Royal bloodlines and produce stronger heirs. Princess Yumina was quickly agreeable to this idea.

And so the arguing between the Guild and the Royals went on and on.

It almost seemed that war was inevitable.

At this point, and for the first time since he could remember, Shinji actually wished he could go home to Tokyo-3. (Yes, it was that bad)


	18. Wildlife Trouble

**_SHINJI'S NEW LIFE_**  
By Gunman and Reisfriend

Disclaimer: We own nothing.

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Chapter 18  
 **Wildlife Trouble**

(One week after Shinji cured the princess)

After Shinji had cured princess Yumina, Ayl took Shinji to the Guild's library where she picked out books she wanted him to read in order to learn more about the world.

She picked out eight books, which were about the kingdoms history, world history, monster encyclopedia, a book about basic survival skills, one book about water magic, two books about darkness magic and a book about herbs, berries and mushrooms.

During the week, Shinji spend most of his time reading the books, which didn't take long to read since Shinji was a fast reader and he had a photographic memory, thanks to his mothers genes.

But he didn't only read the books, he did 3 herb gathering quests with Tia and healed Lilia's injury, which was a twisted ankle. Ayl also had him practice riding a horse, mostly the slow speeds she had taught him previously during their first quest. And the horse in question was Tornac, who was glad to see his regular rider. The elven warrior promised Shinji that she will teach him the faster speeds when she feels confident that he is ready and comfortable on a horse.

During the week, Ayl was glad that nobody from the Royal District came looking for Shinji and was already making plans to escape the kingdom if it came to that.

Tia, Lilia and Hana were surprised to say the least when they heard that Shinji met the youngest princess and cured her illness. They also thought that the reward he received was quite small. 30 gold coins.

He also got to know Lilia a bit better. She told him about her family, her parents being strict about the hunter training, but otherwise they were doting parents who wanted grandkids, which is why they tried to arrange the unwanted marriage that she escaped from by coming to Ithalan. She also told him about the 3 other female hunters who were her friends, when all the other women and girls looked down on her because of her small breasts.

The said 3 friends tried to give her advice on how to make breasts grow, but none of the suggested methods worked, hence Lilia's frustration and grudge against breasts.

But Shinji figured out why her breasts didn't grow. The reason was because of her diet. Lilia didn't eat much, even when she was younger. She only ate the bare minimum of food needed to make sure she didn't get hungry and then there was her training, which was quite rigorous according to her tale, which burned energy quite fast.

Shinji figured that since she didn't eat enough nutritious food, her breasts didn't grow and she was only about two inches shorter then he was. He couldn't tell her that though, since in the world they lived in, food was simply something they ate to their hunger and they had no idea about the benefits of healthy diets and such, since science hadn't progressed that far. He tried to comfort her by telling her the benefits of small breasts. Her shoulders didn't feel stiff and heavy and big ones would only get in the way when she used her bow and because she had small ones, she could move faster because there was no extra weight.

His comfort was somewhat successful, since Lilia agreed with his reasoning, but she still wanted to have big ones so she would look prettier.

During the week, Shinji and Hana had sex twice, using the techniques in the book Juna had given Hana. And both of them were exhausted after both sessions, but they lasted longer now, since they had practice. Tomoe also came over to the inn and played music, which was soothing and beautiful as always, in Shinji's opinion.

He also had Tia and Ayl try out the shower he used with Hana sometimes. Both women commented that a hot shower was quite relaxing and pleasant, which made both of them curse that they didn't have water magic so they could use the shower by themselves.

Ayl also explained the mana stones to Shinji. Mana stones were jewels where mana could be stored and used without draining the mana from their own body. Shinji commented that they were basically batteries, which he explained to Ayl, impressing her even more about his worlds technology. He also did one recharge request with Ayl during the week. The downsides of mana stones was that they were relatively expensive and if one didn't have the required mana affinity, then the stone couldn't be used.

And right now, Tia, Lilia, Ayl and Shinji were sitting in a carriage of a merchant caravan that was heading towards Allons, a town that was famous for it's outstanding and delicious meat products. The Guild had received an open request for Bloodtiger elimination, with a reward of 5 gold coins for each adventurer who came and killed at least one tiger.

The one who had sent the request was Marquis Thomas Rompso, Alex Rompso's older brother. Their father had placed Thomas in charge of the largest cattle ranch in the region, while the younger son was in charge of the salt mine Ayl and Shinji cleared out of goblins a while back. Shinji and Tia commented that the reward was awfully crappy, considering that there was a huge pack of ferocious tigers, about 50 of them, according to the request sheet.

Krulcifer explained that Thomas was a fancy pants who called adventurers to take care of every little thing that happened at the ranch and paid dink, because he was a cheapskate and a spoiled brat who had never worked a day in his life. This info came from a former employee of Thomas who quit the job and now worked as an adventurer in Ithalan.

Ayl decided to take care of it, mainly because if the tigers ate all the cattle, then that would mean Hana wouldn't get any more meat to cook for them and she didn't want that. Tia and Lilia agreed, as did Shinji. When they explained this to Hana, she practically kicked them out of the city, saying that if she can't cook delicious meals for her lover, then not only would the inn's customers go somewhere else, Shinji had to go to other places so he could eat meat and she wanted him to only eat her food. Ayl almost keeled over from laughter at her reaction.

And the caravan they were currently riding on belonged to Horst, the merchant Shinji and Ayl met when they left from Hearth Inn in Shinji's second day in a fantasy world.

But there was another adventurer with them. Bron Boraxe, son of Orik and a nephew of Gallus, a C-rank dwarf adventurer whose weapon of choice was a battle axe made by Gallus. The dwarf wanted to come along because he had the same notion as Ayl. If the tigers ate all the cattle, then no meat for them, and dwarves were fond of roasted meat.

Ayl also said that while the reward was crappy, they could get a good amount of money from the tigers bodies, if they weren't too mangled or burned.

The caravan was only a day away from Allons, the entire trip being 4 days by carriage. The trip had been rather uneventful, which made Shinji wish that he had a book or a smartphone so he could occupy his time. Instead, the adventurers talked about their previous quests, Ayl telling Shinji to keep his mouth shut about the salt mine quest so he didn't expose his metallic abilities to Bron.

And now that Shinji was riding on Horst's carriage once again, he remembered the one guard who died during the goblin attack. He thought that had he know the 'Resuscitate' chant, that guard would still be alive.

Horst had been glad to see Shinji and Ayl once again and offered them a ride to Allons, where he would be buying and selling various goods for a few days before heading back to Ithalan and Ayl's group was welcomed to travel with them.

And after 3 days of traveling and camping with nothing to do but talking about their past exploits, Shinji asked his fellow adventurers if they would like to hear a story. And it didn't take long for them to accept his suggestion, since they had grown weary from listening their past quests, Shinji started telling them a story from his world, though only Ayl figured it out. Shinji told them that his 'late' father liked making up stories and told them to him and the other kids in Lille.

When the caravan had stopped for the night, Shinji had told them half of the story 'Castlevania: Lords of Shadow', though he said that the name of the story was just Lords of Shadow. He didn't have to change many details from the original story, since most of the stuff in the story existed in the fantasy world he was in and to his delight, the adventurers seemed to be very interested in the story, especially Lilia.

When the camp was set and the caravan guards and drivers were making food at their campfires, the adventurers were eating their ready made food and Shinji was roasting meat they had bought from the butcher in Ithalan and stored in his Darkness storage. Tia and Bron were sparring with their weapons, which were covered in darkness magic that made the blade dull and non-lethal while the magic was active, but it could still break bones.

Bron was stronger then Tia, thanks to his thicker physique and years of practice, but Tia was faster and she aimed at weak points with her spear while Bron's fighting style relied on brute force. Bron only had to get one good hit and Tia would be done for, but Bron couldn't hit her because she knew quite well she couldn't afford to get hit, so she focused more on dodging and attacking only when an opportunity presented itself.

The sparring session lasted about 10 minutes and Tia managed to hit Bron in the head, which was covered by a helmet.

BONK

"OUH!" Bron groaned when Tia's attack hit him.

"It's my win." Tia stated bluntly.

"HA! That was a good spar lass. But I still say that Thrar would beat you with a spear." Bron said, rubbing the back of his head after he removed the helmet.

"Perhaps." Tia said and started walking back to the campfire.

"That was a good match Tia." Shinji complimented as she came to sit next to him and he handed her a plate with roasted boar meat he had placed in his storage.

"Thanks." She replied simply with a small smile as she took the plate and started eating as Shinji removed the spell from her spear.

Lilia pouted at Tia. During the week she had gotten closer to Shinji and they knew each other better now, but she wasn't getting closer to being more then friends with Shinji. And Tia hogging his attention most of the time didn't help.

Bron came over to sit by the fire and rummaged through his luggage to find the smoked meat and a bottle of ale. Lilia removed her darkness spell from his axe.

The group ate in silence, since the journey was tiresome and they asked Shinji to continue the story when they were on the move again. And they had also done pretty much nothing but talking during their journey, so they wanted a break from talking.

Once they had eaten, Shinji and Tia went to the carriage to sleep while Ayl and Lilia slept by the fire and Bron kept watch with the guards. One thing about dwarves was that they could stay awake 3 days in a row if they wanted, since their race required little sleep, which was one of the reasons why they were so productive and industrious.

In the carriage, Tia snuggled against Shinji and without a warning, she started kissing him. He didn't resist and allowed her to continue.

"Shinji, finally I get to have you all to myself." Tia said when she parted her lips from his.

"Tia..." He started but was interrupted as she pressed her finger to his lips.

"Don't worry. We won't do it here. When we get to Allons and the quest is completed, let's do it again." Tia suggested.

"I don't mind Tia. Have you been feeling uncomfortable lately?" Shinji asked, thinking that she might be sexually frustrated.

"A little bit. Every time I think about our time at the Hunters Inn, I want to experience that pleasure again." She replied.

"Then let's do it again when we can Tia." Shinji said and kissed her. But she deepened the kiss and they continued kissing for another 20 minutes before finally drifting to sleep.

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(The next day)

The caravan was moving towards Allons again and it was almost noon. After eating a light breakfast and getting the horses ready, the caravan started moving and they were a few hours away from the town. During the almost 4 hour trip, Shinji continued the story he started yesterday, which only made the adventurers more interested as the story progressed.

When Allons came to view, Shinji noticed that it looked like a regular town with houses and stores, some of the houses were of finer quality, and some farmland further away close to the small river.

Stopping at the warehouse merchants used to store their goods, Ayl and her friends bid farewell to Horst and told them that they would ride back to Ithalan with them if they finished their quest in time.

"Alright then, the ranch is 3 miles west of here and we have about 7 hours of daylight left. So what do you want to do? Shall we stay at an Inn today and move out at first light or do we walk to the ranch now?" Ayl asked her team.

"I say we walk over there now." Lilia said, anxious to get to work.

"I agree. Let's move out now." Tia said, since she too felt stiff after days of carriage ride with nothing to do.

Seeing as how his friends wanted to move out right away since they were bored and anxious to get to work, Shinji decided to just follow them, even though he really wanted to find an inn and rest.

"Let's move out." The healer/metal master said.

"I'm all out of patience. Let's go now." Bron said impatiently.

"Very well then, follow me." Ayl said and started walking towards their destination.

As they walked, Shinji recalled what he had read about Bloodtigers from the 'monster guide' as he liked to call it. Bloodtigers didn't seem that different from the tigers of his world, except that they were bigger, about the same size as Tornac, they worked at night because of their black fur and the name came from the fact that they could smell blood from further away then most creatures. They ate not only animals and monsters, but people as well.

Basically, if it was made from meat, they would eat it, leaving only the bones. They were also clever creatures who could use 'tactics' when attacking prey and a pack of tigers didn't stay in one place, while a lone tiger stayed in one area where there was more then enough prey for it. A pack was always on the move in search of a rich feeding ground and this particular pack now stumbled upon the ranch, which was likely an all-you-can-eat-buffet to them, in Shinji's opinion.

They were usually seen in packs or alone. If the tiger was alone it would attack silently without being seen, but never against larger numbers like a pack of wolves. But if there was a pack of tigers, they feared practically nothing, aside from dragons.

This time around, Shinji declined to ask if anyone had tried to capture or tame a Bloodtiger.

"Ayl, do you have a plan on how to kill these tigers?" Shinji asked her.

"I have a few ideas. I'll tell you once we reach the ranch." replied.

"I say we find their lair and cut them down." Bron said.

"And get ripped apart by 50 tigers?" Tia stated.

"You're right of course lass, but patience is not one of my virtues." Bron countered.

"I wish I had mithril arrows for this." Lilia said suddenly.

"Aren't steel arrows good enough?" Shinji asked.

"They are, but mithril arrows would be more effective from longer range. I have to let the tigers closer for these arrows to be effective." Lilia explained.

"Just don't let them too close." Shinji said.

"I'll keep that in mind." Lilia replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about lass, you're too scrawny for their liking." Bron said jokingly.

Lilia pouted from the dwarf's remark, even if it was a joke.

"Just don't get trampled when they run at you, shorty." she replied.

"Can't take a joke girlie?" Bron asked.

"I'm sensitive about my figure." Lilia remarked and ran over to Ayl, who was at the lead.

"Shinji, I will protect you if the tigers get too close." Tia whispered to her lover.

"Thank you, but don't get killed Tia. I would miss you too much." Shinji retorted.

"I have no intention of dying. There are still things I want to do. With you." She said.

The group walked in silence the rest of the way and the ranch finally came into view.

The ranch looked like something out a Wild West movie with a two-story mansion, about 30 large barns all over and about 10,000 cows and other livestock at the pastures and enclosures and the apparent cowboys riding around on horses and other workers tending to the cattle. The land had lush grasslands and seemed to be about 600,000 acres, by Shinji's estimate.

"Wow, this is a pretty impressive ranch." Shinji stated, impressed by the sheer size of the property.

"Indeed. I have heard about this place, but to actually see it makes me very impressed." Tia stated, also impressed by the view.

"So this is where all the fine meat comes from. I sure wouldn't mind owning this." Bron said.

Before Lilia could say anything, Ayl spoke.

"Let's find the foreman and ask about the tigers."

The group started walking towards the mansion, where they saw a gardener tending to a small field of vegetables. Ayl said that those were most likely the owners personal vegetables only he ate during meals.

"Excuse me, but could you help us find the foreman of this ranch?" Ayl asked the gardener.

"And you are?" The dark haired, medium height gardener asked.

"We are adventurers from Ithalan, and we're here to take care of the tiger problem." She answered.

"The foreman is probably giving the report to the master. I'll go see if he is done. You can wait here." The gardener said and entered the mansion through the small backdoor.

They waited for about 10 minutes until the foreman and the gardener came out from the door. The foreman appeared to be in his fifties and he had a few strands of grey hair on his black hair and he was about 180 cm tall and had an athletic build.

"So you're the adventurers who came to help us with our problem?" The foreman asked.

"Yes, that's us. Open." Ayl replied as she showed her adventurer ID.

The others also showed their ID's after Ayl.

"Can you tell us where the tigers are?" Ayl asked.

"They were last seen in the norther forest. It's about 5 miles from here. And if you don't mind me asking, how are you going to handle them? There's only 5 of you and there is over 50 of them. Do you have a death wish?" The foreman replied.

"I have a plan on how to take care of them. When was the last time you saw them?" Ayl asked.

"They came here 2 days ago. We left all the old and sick cattle outside as bait for them to spare the young and healthy ones and they took it. Nobody died that time, but when they first appeared, I lost 3 of my men and 80 cows to them. I asked master to post a request for the adventurers and recommended 20 gold coins as a reward so that more adventurers would come, but I guess you know why he posted only 5 gold coins as a reward." The foreman replied.

"Yes, we know. But don't worry. With my plan, those tigers won't bother you anymore." Ayl assured.

"I hope you're right. Good hunting." The foreman said and went back in the house.

"Alright then, we better hurry before it gets dark enough for the tigers." Ayl said and started walking with the others following.

The group was about three miles out from the ranch when Ayl stopped.

"What's wrong, Ayl?" Shinji asked.

"Here."

Looking down the group saw large three-padded prints in the dirt.

"Bloodtiger tracks." Bron said.

Tia and Lilia looked around and saw that there were other tracks, and they were spread out over the area. Almost like the tigers were marching or charging in a line.

"What do you think Shinji?" Ayl asked the boy with expectant eyes.

Shinji figured that Ayl was testing him to see if he remembered anything from the books she made him read.

"The tigers charged in a line like cavalry in order to catch more prey in a short time." he said.

"Exactly Shinji. And something like this has happened before, which only proves that Bloodtigers are not just bloodthirsty monsters. The are actually pretty smart." Ayl added.

"We better not follow them into the woods. Some tigers guard the rest of the pack up high on the trees and they can smell people quite easily." Lilia commented.

"Do we lay traps for them?" Tia asked.

"Yes. We'll lay some traps here. Bron and I use Earth-magic to make a pit, Shinji and Tia, use fire and water magic to lay a trap spell that triggers once they fall into it. And Lilia, use darkness magic to cover the hole." Ayl instructed.

It took the group a couple of hours to effectively dig and plant their traps. Over two dozen of them lined along the open field, in a criss-cross pattern for maximum effect.

"And now, we wait." Ayl said.

Bron grumbled as he heard that. He was hoping it wasn't going to be the case, but... it made the most sense, since the Bloodtigers wouldn't come out until night, to give them a better advantage.

Sundown was in a couple of hours, so the group decided to build a blind and lay in wait.

Digging the hole for two or three people was easy enough with Earth magic. Bron, Tia and Shinji would wait in it while Ayl and Lilia hid in the nearby trees, after Lilia and Shinji used Darkness magic to cover their scent. Lilia was naturally upset at not getting to hide with Shinji, but Ayl was insistent that her archery skills would be useful from high up. Ayl also had a bow with her, an elven-made elegant looking longbow with Brightsteel tips. She had taken it with her before they departed from Ithalan and Shinji carried it for her in his storage.

Covering the blind with darkness magic to conceal them, the group waited.

The last view of sunlight vanished over the mountains, and Shinji had to activate his darkness magic to help him see in the dark. Tia and Bron also received this magic.

It was four hours later, and nothing was happening.

"This is boring!" Bron grumbled. "Where are they?"

"I agree." Tia said with a huff. "It's been hours since the sun went down, and nothing!"

' _They're right. I can only imagine how Ayl and Lilia are faring_.' Shinji thought.

(Trees at the edge of the forest)

Lilia was trying her best to stay awake, but was having the occasional nodding-off effect that came with little to no action. She did everything she could think of to keep herself alert and attentive. Old songs and stories she remembered, her past adventures, the friends she had made. The one thing she didn't try to think about was being intimate with Shinji, since she knew it would be a distraction. The night vision spell helped a little, but not enough.

She suddenly felt her body nudged slightly, her center of gravity shifting, and her body being pulled by gravity.

"AHH!" She cried out as she lashed out with her hands and caught the branch she was sitting on.

"Are you awake now?" Ayl asked as Lilia scrambled back up into the branch.

"That wasn't funny!" Lilia hissed at the elf adventurer.

"Neither was being asleep for the last hour!"

"I... what?" she gasped.

"See? You didn't even realize. Maybe being scared out of your wits will... wait. Did you hear that?"

Lilia was still glaring daggers at their party leader when her ears twitched.

Footsteps.

Ayl and Lilia strained themselves to see into the darkness of the forest, seeing large dark shapes moving towards them. They kept quiet and noticed dozens of Bloodtigers running through the woods and under their tree. There were fifty of them easy.

Ayl wished that she had one of those communication devices that Shinji had told her about from his world. Being able to communicate effectively with each other would have been a serious advantage.

The Bloodtigers paused when they came to the edge of their traps. Several of them seemed to sniff the ground and seemed puzzled.

' _They can't have smelt the traps. Or... are they smelling us?_ ' Ayl cursed herself for not considering that. They had been all over the field laying the traps. And since they hadn't had a chance to bathe since leaving Ithalan... ' _They're probably smelling Bron. Dwarves don't bathe so much_.' She thought as she watched the pack line up side-by-side.

The lead Bloodtiger, which looked only slightly different because of a large fin-like mohawk along it's back, growled at the rest of the pack. Several of the Bloodtigers broke from the line, and right into several of their traps.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The fire traps sprung, trapping and scorching several Bloodtigers

Several more Bloodtigers raced through the field, avoiding their traps that had been sprung, but falling into more of them and getting impaled by steel hard ice spikes.

The fires and explosions lit up the whole area, and causing several of the Bloodtigers to backpedal at the bright light.

"Now?" Lilia asked as she nocked her arrow.

"Now." Ayl said as she readied her own bow and arrow.

Arrows of steel rained down from the trees, striking several of the Bloodtigers before they realized where it was coming it.

That was when Bron, Tia and Shinji sprang from their hiding place.

"HA! HERE WE ARE! COME ON!" Bron shouted as he hefted his axe up and charged at them.

"Bron, wait!" Shinji said as the dwarf shot forward and swung his axe, striking one Bloodtiger in the neck and killing it.

Tia gripped her trident and impaled another Bloodtiger in the chest as it leapt at her.

Shinji pulled his curved blades from behind his back and held his ground.

Several more Bloodtigers burst through the firey explosions. Some of them were on fire as they came towards Shinji.

One of the Bloodtigers glared at Shinji and barred it's maw, before leaping at him.

Shinji jumped to the left as the Bloodtiger came crashing down where he had been. He gripped his blades tightly before hurling them at the tiger, his power over metal directing the blades to slice at the creatures neck, ending it's life as it fell to the ground.

More explosions erupted from the traps they had set. Ayl and Lilia continued to fire their arrows at the Bloodtigers. Bron and Tia kept slashing and striking at the Bloodtigers that got through their traps. And Shinji, wishing he had better long-range weapons, used his metal powers to strike down as many tigers as he could.

Blood and fire littered the battlefield.

The leader of the Bloodtigers growled loudly, before retreating back into the forest. Only a handful of his pack left. But they didn't get to the forest as Ayl used her fire magic to create a wall of fire, which blocked the tigers path to the forest. Lilia and Ayl fired more arrows at the remaining 8 tigers, killing 5 of them and wounding one as Bron attacked the other 2 tigers at the back with his axe, crushing the spine of another while the other got it's head sliced in half. The last tiger was killed by Shinji, who slashed it with his blades before it had a chance to pounce on Bron.

"I saw him." Bron laughed.

"I'm sure." Shinji said as he retrieved his blades.

Within seconds, the battlefield was quiet and glowing from the fires still lit and the one wounded tiger whose spine was crushed was finished off by Bron.

Ayl and Lilia returned to the group while Shinji used his water magics to put out the fires.

"Well, that was FUN!" Bron laughed heartily. "Almost worth the wait!"

Ayl and the others gave him a slightly perturbed look.

"Let's take a count." Ayl said.

It took the group more than an hour to gather up all the Bloodtiger bodies and line them up. Once they had, Ayl was smiling at all their work.

"52 Bloodtigers. A very nice nights work, considering that we were outnumbered ten-to-one." Ayl commented.

"We can get a good price out of these kitties. Even from the ones that are burned. But let's head back and get some rest." Bron said.

"I agree, Huaaahh! I want to sleep." Lilia complained with a yawn.

Ayl grimaced a little. There was still work to do!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Authors Notes:

From Reisfriend. Apologies that it took so long and the chapter is rushed, since real life is an evil mistress that likes to make things hectic quite often.

From Gunman. Sorry things took so long. Real life is indeed an evil mistress that loves to distract you from your work. Hope everyone enjoys this new chapter of Shinjis New Life. Please read and review.

And now, some omakes.

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Omake 1

"No Shinji! I can't just accept charity like this!" Tomoe shouted to the healer.

Shinji had healed Tomoe's cousin Tomoya, who had been suffering from leukemia. Tomoe asked if he could cure her cousin and Shinji successfully cured the young wolfman.

"But I don't need your money." Shinji said.

"Is there something I can do to repay you?" Tomoe asked, not wanting to let him go unless she paid him something.

"Well, there is one thing." Shinji said.

"What is it?" Tomoe asked.

10 minutes later.

"AAHHHH!" Tomoe moaned as Shinji gently petted her wolf ears and bushy tail as she laid on his lap.

Shinji felt quite relaxed and pleased by the soothing comfort of petting a cute wolf loli. He reluctantly stopped petting her, since the time was up. He would have kept petting her, but he had promised her he wouldn't take too much of her time.

Tomoe rose up from his lap and stretched, since she was feeling sleepy. Shinji's petting had felt so good.

"What did you call this again Shinji?" Tomoe asked when she was awake.

"It's called Mofumofu." Shinji answered, having wanted to do the mofumofu one saw sometimes in isekai mangas where demi-human girls were involved.

"Well, let's do that again sometime. I don't think I can live without Mofumofu anymore." Tomoe said cutely with starry eyes.

' _Any otaku whose into lolis would have died from cuteness overload!_ ' Shinji thought as he somehow withstood Tomoe's cute reaction.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Omake 2

Isarnia, Ragnhild, Sigrunn and Shinji had arrived at the base camp where the trio of Layla, Jenneh and Brienne were awaiting them. The trio had told the arriving quartet that they had witnessed their fight against the Rock Elemental, and had to admit they were impressed. They introduced themselves to Shinji and were quick to ask questions. Shinji, however, only had one question.

"Do you have anything to eat?" he asked.

The group looked at each other before they realized the obvious.

"We do." Layla said with a smile.

The stew they had made was good, though Shinji thought it could have used some more spices. He ate it with great enthusiasm. Ever since waking up in this new world, he had been hungry. And since his fight against that monstrous rock creature, his bloodsugar had been extremely low.

Shinji got acquainted with each of the new female adventurers, discovering they each had special skills and powers that people from his world didn't have. He was still coming to terms with the fact he had been asleep for a thousand years.

He was vaguely aware that Isarnia was explaining just why and how he had been found by her, when she noticed he was nodding off slightly.

"Shinji? SHINJI!" she gasped as the young man pitched forward and almost fell to the ground, as Brienne caught him.

"He's passed out." the forest berserker said.

"I'm not surprised." Jenneh said. "The altitude, just waking up after a 1000 year nap, and just getting something to eat after a fight against an Earth Elemental... I would be tired as well."

"Come, come, let's get him into the tent. It'll be night time soon." Isarnia said.

The heroines all agreed.

It was hours later when Shinji awoke. He felt better, after having a good, ole fashioned sleep. He could have used his powers to help keep him awake, since he had questions about this new world. And even if Ayl was still alive. He tried to move, only to find that he had something holding him down. Something familiar.

He noticed that Isarnia and Jenneh were curled up against him underneath a thick fur blanket. He could feel that they were mostly naked underneath. What's more is that he could feel he was mostly naked as well. He blushed a little at how warm and comfortable he felt again.

He felt a stirring next to him, as he saw Isarnia blink her eyes and yawn a little.

"Good morning, Shinji." the ice sorceress said.

"Isarnia. Good morning." he replied. "What... what happened?"

"You passed out. Fatigue. Most likely the altitude and the fact you've been slumbering for 1000 years. Your body just needed to catch up."

"I could have healed myself up instantly." he chided himself.

"True, but champion of the Gods or not, you are still human." she said.

"I... I have questions." he said.

"I'm sure. Ask me anything." she said with a smile.

And so Shinji began his inquiry.


	19. Archers Advance

**_SHINJIS NEW LIFE  
_** By Gunman & Reisfriend

Disclaimer: We own nothing, sadly.

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Chapter 19  
 **Archer's Advance**

(Town of Allons, a day after the tigers were exterminated)

It had taken a little over 3 hours from Shinji and his friends to gather all the tiger bodies from the field into his and Lilia's storage as well as cleaning all the blood of the tigers with water magic, not to mention deactivating all the magic traps that the tigers had managed to avoid and filling the pits with earth magic to make sure nothing or nobody fell in there. Ayl asked Shinji why cleaning off the blood was important to test him and he correctly replied that if they left the blood there, then some other beast might smell it and find it's way to the ranch. This fact had been stated in the survival skills book he had read.

When the clean-up was done, Shinji had to use 'Rest' on his friends when Bron wasn't looking so they could make it back to the ranch without falling asleep. When they got there, they went to the nearest stable and slept in the loft. Bron wasn't all that tired, or so he said, so Shinji didn't have to use his 'Rest' chant on him, but he went to sleep as well.

And when they had woken up, they found the foreman just outside the stable checking the shoes of his horse and brushing the said horse. Ayl explained to him what happened and Lilia and Shinji showed a few bodies of the tigers to the foreman and Ayl also added that they cleaned up the place to make sure other beasts didn't follow their trail. The foreman reported to Rompso and brought the money to the adventurers, which was the promised 5 gold coins each. Rompso also signed the quest completion form Ayl gave to the foreman.

The said adventurers then headed to Allons, hoping to catch Horst before he departed back to Ithalan with his caravan. When they found Horst at the warehouse, the aging merchant was glad to see them alive and well and he also said that they would leave tomorrow at noon, since he wanted to give the horses some proper rest after such a long journey.

Since the adventurers had free time now, they went to reserve rooms at the inn and after that, Tia and Shinji went to take a walk around town to see what kind of stuff they had for sale. Lilia and Ayl went to eat at a local 'diner'. Bron had gone to a bar to get drunk.

"Isn't this like a date Shinji?" Tia asked as they walked along the street towards the town square.

"Not a typical date at least." Shinji replied.

"This is like an adventurers date. Two adventurers spend time together in a town where they completed a quest before heading back home." Tia explained in a dreamy fashion.

"I suppose that's true." Shinji said, though he was quite surprised by Tia. Right now she was being more romantic then usual.

Tia suddenly took a hold of his arm. "Let's go see if there is a tailor in this town. I want to see what kind of clothes they sell here."

"Really? Okay, I suppose it couldn't hurt." He replied, now curious about what kind clothes a town like this had for sale.

They found the tailor near the town square and when they entered, they noticed that the store had more hats then clothes for sale. The clothes were vests, jackets and pants, but not in large variety. But the hats where something like a combination of cowboy hats and fedora hats.

Tia picked out a brown leather hat which had some animals claws adorned on it. "What do you think Shinji? Does this suit me?" She asked with an expectant look.

Shinji wasn't much into fashion, which was also the case in this fantasy world. Commoners didn't really care what their clothes looked like as long as they kept them warm and were durable enough to withstand the work they did. But he looked at Tia and evaluated how the cowboish hat looked on her.

"Well, it gives this wild look to you. So yes, I think it looks good on you." Shinji said after some thought.

Tia let out a small smile. "Then I'll buy this." She then went to over to pick out another hat which was black and didn't have any claws on it. "You try this Shinji."

He took the hat and placed it on his head, though truthfully, it was rare for him to wear a hat, since he didn't really think that they were needed. But since he would be spending more time outside in this world, he thought that it would be better to get at least some protection from the sun since he didn't want to get overly tanned.

"Hmm, I think that hat suits you quite well Shinji." Tia complimented.

"Then I'll buy it." Shinji said and they went to the counter to pay. Tia's hat cost 2 silvers and Shinji's hat cost 1 silver.

As they left, the tailor, who was a bald man in his forties with a short beard, stared enviously at the young man.

' _Curse you for hanging out with a silver haired beauty!_ ' the tailor thought.

Grabbing his arm again, Tia asked: "Should we go see what kind of weapons they have for sale in here?"

Once again, Shinji noted the lack of entertainment in this world. He didn't want to spend every date he had doing the same things, but he didn't have much choice.

"Sure, let's go see. Maybe I can find another knife."

"I'll give you my opinion if the knife is good or not." Tia offered.

"Thanks. That helps." Shinji replied and kissed her cheek. Tia's face turned slightly pink, mostly because there were people watching.

The weapon shop was at the other side of the square, where another bald man in his forties was the owner. In the shop there were mostly bows and knives on sale, as well as some swords and a few axes.

The knives Shinji and Tia looked over were mostly simple designs, but there were a few with an elegant design. The knife that caught his eye was the one that resembled a Bowie knife with an empty socket for a mana stone at the head of the handle.

"What do you think Tia? Would this knife be good?" He asked the lancer as he picked up the knife.

Tia took the knife and checked it. "I think this knife would be very useful. It's durable, balanced, made from Brightsteel and it even has a socket for a mana stone. And sharp too. Maybe I'll buy one as well."

The owner glared at Shinji, because he was hanging out with a silver haired young beauty.

' _Damn Riaju_!' The owner thought jealously, calling Shinji a deragatory term that meant popular guy in Allons.

After paying for the knives which were 2 gold coins in total, Shinji asked Tia: "How about we go get something to eat now Tia?"

"Yes, I am feeling a bit hungry now." She replied as she took his arm, again. They made their way towards the 'diner' Lilia and Ayl had gone to.

Arriving at the 'diner' which had paintings of monsters and people who killed the said monsters, a medium sized fireplace, some tables with four chairs and some tables had dices and cups. A few customers were eating sandwiches and stew, but Lilia and Ayl weren't nowhere to be seen.

The few customers turned to lustfully look at Tia, imagining how amazing sex with her would be like. But when they noticed Shinji, they started glaring at him.

At the counter, Tia and Shinji ordered beef stew and sandwiches, which were the days special, according to the paper that was hanging on the door of the 'diner'. The one who took the order was a bunny-eared young girl with light brown hair and red eyes and a cute face.

"A lot of people have been staring at us Shinji." Tia stated matter-of-factly.

"I think they are eyeing you and imagining perverted things about you." Shinji replied quietly.

"That might be true. Wouldn't be the first time. But I'm more worried about how people are glaring at you. I think there might be trouble if we stay out too long." Tia said with a concerned tone.

"You mean they might attack me out of jealousy?" Shinji asked, mildly surprised. Getting jumped by jealous guys because he was hanging out with a beauty was a common cliche in mangas he had read, hence his mild surprise.

"Yes." She replied bluntly as the bunny-eared girl brought the food.

They ate in silence for half an hour, both of them thinking that while the food was good, Hana's cooking was better.

As they left the 'diner' and headed to the inn, they stopped at a store that was close to the inn. The store was like a liquor store, since there were many alcoholic beverages on sale. Tia bought herself a bottle of sour whiskey while Shinji bought a bottle of sweet whiskey, thinking that there might come a time when he wanted to get hammered. And of course he could always just heal his hangover afterwards.

At the inn, Ayl and Lilia were sitting at the counter, drinking mead. One man was trying to hit on Lilia and nobody was trying to approach Ayl because she was disguised as a male once again.

Lilia knocked the drunken man who was hitting on her unconscious before Tia and Shinji came over to them.

"Shinji, where were you?" Ayl asked him.

"I walked around with Tia and we bought some stuff. How about you?" Shinji asked Ayl.

"Nothing much. I just ate with Lilia and came back here to drink and relax. I suggest that we go to sleep early, since we will be leaving tomorrow." Ayl said as she gulped down her mead.

Since it was afternoon, but there was nothing to do to pass the time, Tia made a suggestion to her lover.

"Shinji, would you give me a massage?" She asked with her usual stoic face.

He looked at the silver haired beauty before he replied: "I don't mind. I also wanted to see if my massage feels good for you."

Lilia glared at Tia as she took Shinji's hand and started dragging him to her room. Ayl noticed Lilia's frustrated look and said: "If you want Shinji as your lover, then you should stop waiting and make your move."

Lilia blushed a little before she replied. "I want to, but I'm too nervous. And what if he doesn't want me."

"You don't have to worry about that. Didn't he tell you that you are cute?" Ayl asked.

"He did, but what if he was just being nice?" Lilia asked.

"I can tell you that Shinji doesn't judge people because of their breast size. If you tell him that you want him as your lover, I'm sure he will accept you." Ayl assured.

"Nngh! I have never confessed to anyone before!" Lilia said.

"Well, there is a first time for everything. And I think that Shinji is the perfect first one to confess to, since I think he will accept you." Ayl said. Though she thought that watching her apprentice gather himself a harem of cute women and watching them fighting over him or sharing him was amusing to her. And she she also wanted to help Lilia with her romantic endeavor because even she thought that Lilia was a cute girl and she deserved love and having people judge her as unsuitable because she had small breasts was just wrong.

' _Alright! I'll confess to him when we are heading back to Ithalan_!' The archer thought, steeling her resolve to get the man she was after.

In Tia's room, the lancer was lying on the bed on her stomach with only her 'panties' on and Shinji was massaging her back.

"AAAHHHH!" Tia moaned as he worked his magic.

"You have to relax Tia. It'll feel better." Shinji said as he continued to rub her, loving the feel of her supple alabaster skin in his hands.

"I caaaan't!" She cried out as her muscles were loosening up.

Tia's body was relaxing on it's own as he continued massaging his silver haired lover, though Tia was too busy to notice because she was feeling too good.

"Guh!" Tia gasped as her lower back popped and he stopped massaging her.

Tia just laid there, panting and feeling sleepy.

When her breathing calmed down, Shinji asked: "Do you want me to continue?"

"NO! I'll fall asleep if you continue." She answered and turned around on her back. And before he even realized what happened, Tia's legs wrapped around his waist and she pulled him on top of her, capturing him in a deep kiss.

"NNHH!" They both moaned as Shinji started kissing her back, their tongues dueling as Tia wrapped her arms around his neck, her right hand going to his hair and combing it tenderly.

Tia wasn't feeling any discomfort, since Shinji wasn't heavy and his weight on top of her actually felt good for her.

When she ended the kiss, she asked: "Shinji, will you pleasure me again?"

"Well, I did promise you that I would." He replied and waited for her to release him.

"Would you lick me down there again?" She asked, her cheeks turning red.

"You want me to?" He asked.

"I do. I want to feel it again." She replied, not looking away from his eyes and unwrapping her arms and legs from him.

He didn't say anything, instead he pulled down her panties and spread her legs and once again started licking her.

"HYAAHH!" Tia moaned as she felt his tongue in her pussy once again.

This time Shinji held on to her hips and continued to lick her, inserting his tongue and licking her insides and then taking it out to lick her clit, teasing and pleasuring her.

"SHINJI!" She cried out as he teased her.

Shinji was again lost in the pleasant feeling of her thighs against his cheeks and her taste filling his mouth and her cries of pleasure were music to his ears.

' _I think she is tastier then before_.' He thought as he inserted his tongue inside her again.

Tia grabbed the sheets and kept moaning in pleasure that she couldn't handle for long. "HAAAH! SHINJI! I HYAAHH!" She screamed as his tongue kept grinding her G-spot.

' _By the Gods! This feels too good! I can't..._ ' Tia thought as the pleasure kept building up and she felt she would explode soon. "GAAAHHHH!" Tia screamed as she came all over his face again.

Shinji stopped licking her and cleaned his face with water magic and waited until Tia calmed down from her orgasm. Looking at her beautiful face which was red from excitement, she looked like she would go crazy at any second and she panted like an animal, trying to fill her lungs with air. His eyes kept wandering to her pale breasts, which heaved up and down from her panting, exciting him even more.

"Shinji, that felt so good." Tia practically whispered.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Give me a minute. We will continue." Tia replied.

"Rest." Shinji said and casted his healing power on her.

"HYAH!" Tia screamed from the pleasant feeling of the healing power and her stamina returning.

"Are you ready now Tia?" He asked, getting impatient thanks to his libido being awakened. He also casted the contraceptive spell before she could answer.

"I am." She answered simply and opened her legs.

Shinji scooted closer and started pushing his member inside her. Gritting his teeth from the pleasure, he didn't stop until he was all the way in.

"AAAHHHH!" Tia screamed from pleasure yet again.

Shinji managed to hold his voice in and took a hold of her legs before he started moving back and forth.

"SHINJIIIII!" Tia screamed as the pleasure started building up once again.

"TIA! AH!" Shinji moaned as the pleasure he felt was as incredible as before. Her tight womanhood kept squeezing him and practically pulled his dick back in when he pulled back.

' _She feels even tighter then before_.' He thought as he didn't stop moving his hips and giving both of them pleasure that was overwhelming.

' _I can't last long! I don't want this to end too soon_!' Tia thought as she kept moaning from the pleasure that she couldn't handle, not wanting this moment to end.

"KYAAAHHHH!" She screamed as she came, squeezing Shinji's member even tighter then before.

"NAAAHHHH!" Shinji cried out as Tia's tight womanhood tightned up even more and he came, orgasming hard and almost collapsing. "HAAH HAAH! Tia..."

Shinji was about to say something but stopped because Tia had passed out.

He pulled out of her and laid down beside her and pulled the blanket over them before falling asleep from exhaustion.

In the next room, Lilia had listened through the wall and her face had turned red as she imagined what Shinji was doing to the silver haired lancer.

' _Tia sounded like she would go crazy. Does it really feel that good?_ ' Lilia thought when the noise died down.

She flopped down on the bed and tried to get to sleep. Tried, and failed.

' _Nngghh! Now I can't stop thinking about it! I want to know how good it feels!_ ' The archer shouted in her head as her left hand was unconsciously going down between her legs.

"Ah!" Lilia moaned quietly from the small pleasure she felt as her fingers dexteriously rubbed her clit.

' _This doesn't feel as good as it did anymore._ ' She whined in her mind as she touched herself and brought her to a minor orgasm after a few minutes. She fell asleep, feeling unsatisfied. ' _Tomorrow I will make my move_!' She promised herself and steeled her resolve, again.

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(Morning)

Shinji woke up, feeling Tia's arms wrapped around him and her head was on his chest. His hand went to her hair and he started caressing it.

The young healer thought that Tia might be upset because their session last night didn't last long, even though it was intense and pleasant. Though he also would have wanted to go on longer with the quarter vampire like he could with Hana.

"Uuunn." Tia moaned in her sleep and rolled off of him.

'Her sleeping face is so pretty. She looks almost like an angel.' He thought off-handedly now that he finally took a good look at her sleeping face.

He sat up and sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing his eyes. Feeling a bit thirsty, he was about to rose up until a pair of arms wrapped around his neck.

"WHOA!" Shinji gasped in surprise.

"Morning Shinji." Tia whispered.

"Tia, you scared the crap out of me." He told her.

"Are you going to get something to drink?" She whispered again, not letting go of him.

"I was going to. Why are you whispering?" He asked.

"I'm hoarse." She replied quietly and released him.

He turned off the contraceptive magic and cleaned their bodies with water magic before they got dressed and headed downstairs.

As they went downstairs, there were a few people passed out on the tables and on the floor and goblets lying around. Another usual sight in an inn that served booze.

They found some clean goblets at the bar counter and Shinji filled them with cold water, which Tia gulped down in one go and Shinji filled it up again.

' _I wish I had some juice right now_.' Shinji thought as he slowly savored the water.

"Ah, much better." Tia said as she took another gulp of the water. "Shinji, I couldn't last long this time either."

"It's okay Tia. I couldn't last long either. But I enjoyed it." He replied, trying to comfort her.

"I enjoyed it too, but I wanted it to last longer." She said.

"We just need to practice more." Shinji said.

"Yes we do." She said and drank more water.

Shinji opened his storage and pulled out the remaining sandwiches and they started eating.

' _These sandwiches are pretty tasty, but I miss rice_.' Shinji thought how he used to eat rice back in Japan for breakfast.

"Would you share some of those?" Shinji and Tia heard Ayl behind them.

Turning to look at his mentor, Ayl's hair looked dishevelled and she had a groggy look on her face.

"Too much drinking?" Shinji asked, slightly amused by his mentors messed up look.

"Yup. But I needed to unwind." Ayl said and took Shinji's goblet and gulped down the water before she took one of the sandwiches and started eating.

"Detoxify." Shinji said and casted his healing power to Ayl, so her hangover would go away.

"AH!" Ayl gasped from the pleasant feeling and her head didn't hurt anymore as the hangover was cured.

"Ooh. Thanks Shinji, I feel better now." Ayl said while rubbing her forehead.

They continued eating until Lilia came downstairs and joined them for breakfast. Ayl told them that when they finish eating, they should head over to where Horst was and get ready to leave.

Shinji asked about Bron and Ayl replied that since he wasn't an official party member, they didn't have to bother with him and if he couldn't get to where Horst was on time, the dwarf would just have to get back to Ithalan on his own.

Shinji felt a little bad about leaving the dwarf behind, since he had been a great help against the tigers, but Bron was an adult and could manage on his own.

When they were done with the breakfast, the group was heading towards the warehouses where Horst was preparing to depart for Ithalan.

As they arrived, Horst greeted them. "Miss Ayl, I hear that your wits saved the day once again."

"You heard right, but who told you about it?" Ayl asked the aging merchant.

"Your pal Bron, over there, came here and told us everything that happened. And he was drunk as hell and passed out in my wagon." Horst answered.

"Oh, but are you ready to go soon?" Ayl asked, not really surprised by the dwarf's antics.

"Almost. Just wait a few minutes and we will be ready to leave. You can wait in my wagon." Horst said and went over to help his men to get the horses ready.

The group climbed in the wagon and found their dwarven companion sleeping like a rock and reeking of alcohol.

"Shinji, clean him up and use 'Detoxify'." Ayl ordered.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because I don't want to travel the whole trip with this smell and hearing him complaining about the headache." She answered.

"Ah, good point." Shinji replied and did as his mentor said.

Half an hour later, the caravan was moving and had left the town with some townspeople coming over to say their thanks to the adventurers for killing the tigers just before they exited the town.

Bron was still sleeping and Lilia asked Shinji to tell them another story to pass the time. Ayl also said that she would like to hear another story since Lords of Shadow had been a great story in her opinion.

So Shinji decided to tell them the Lord of the Rings story.

It was hours later when the sun was setting and the caravan had stopped to make camp, Ayl and Tia were making campfires with the escorts and Bron, who had woken up a few hours ago, was making pitfalls around the area to make sure that no animal or monster could sneak up on them and Lilia was covering them with darkness magic, but was also anxiously waiting for the chance to take Shinji with her to the woods and confess her feelings to him.

Shinji was roasting meat for his friends at the campfire and wondered if Hana would pounce on him and have another session with him once he arrived. Though he wondered if all the pleasure he had been experiencing lately would be good for his heart, since every time he had sex his heart felt like it would explode. He also wondered if Lianna was amused by his latest adventure.

' _You have nothing to worry about, Shinji-kun_.'

 _'Lianna?'_

' _Do not worry. Only you can hear me_.'

' _Oh, and here I thought I was going crazy_.'

' _I find this to be a much easier way to communicate with you, my champion._ '

' _Okay. So... I'm not going to die because of all the sex I'm having?_ '

' _Of course not_.'

' _Right. I don't suppose there is anything else I am going to encounter in future?_ '

' _You are asking me such a question... when the answer is imminent._ '

' _It is?_ '

' _Yes, it is._ '

"Shinji?" a voice broke him out of his musings.

Shinji was broken out of his mental musings when he noticed Lilia approach him.

"Lilia? You need something?"

"Yes. Can we speak privately?"

"Of course."

Shinji put the roasted meat aside and followed the archer away from the camp and into the woods. Using his darkness powers he was able to see much more than he was previously able. He paused when he noticed they came to a small clearing that seemed well shielded. They hadn't gone too far, just enough that would give them privacy. Shinji saw a blanket had been laid out, along with some of Lilias own effects. It was like a small nest.

"So... what did you want to talk to me about?" Shinji asked.

Lilia had kept her back to Shinji the entire time. She was nervous about this, but she knew Shinjis kindness and knew he wouldn't reject her. Nevertheless, she was nervous.

"I have something to ask you, and... I hope you will say 'yes'." Lilia said.

Shinji had a creeping suspicion about what she was going to ask him.

"Alright. What's your question?" He asked.

Lilia spun around, her shirt falling off of her body, revealing her bare and modest chest.

"Would you take me as your lover?" She asked him.

Shinji was stunned, but he had expected this. He walked over to her, keeping eye-contact, as he took her hands into his own.

"Are you absolutely sure? That you want me?" he asked her.

"Yes!" She said, almost in urgency. "I know you have other lovers, and I... was nervous as to your response in this matter, but..."

' _Lianna, you did it to me again_.' He thought with some exasperation, before leaning in to kiss Lilia on the lips.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(The Royal Castle of Ithalan)

Yumina was looking out the window of her room in dim candlelight with a somber expression. Her head didn't hurt anymore and she could enjoy the luxuries of the castle wholeheartedly and eat any food she wanted without having to endure pain. She could also focus properly in her magic lessons and read books and actually enjoy them.

But lately, her mind had been occupied by the young man who had cured her sickness. She just couldn't get him out of her head even if she wanted to. She had even sent an invitation to the Adventurers Guild asking for him and Ayl to come over to the castle on her request, after finally managing to get permissions from the head guard, her father and the Archmage, who was also one of the people in charge of the castle's security.

But so far the adventurers hadn't come. The messenger who delivered the invitation to the Guild had told her that the adventurers in question were currently in Allons, exterminating Bloodtigers.

Yumina wasn't overly concerned for their safety, because she thought that Shinji could just heal everyone and nobody would die and she would get to see him and Ayl when they came back, if they accepted the invitation.

"Shinji, what are you doing right now?" Yumina asked, wondering what her healer was doing and where he was at the moment.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Forest area)

Lilia moaned softly as she sat on Shinjis lap, the champion of the gods sucking on her breasts as she had her right hand wrapped behind his head. His manhood was buried inside her and she was thoroughly in the throes of passion she had never, ever, experienced.

Shinji had used his darkness magic to conceal them even more, then used the Contraception spell on her, before the pair removed the rest of their clothes, kissing and caressing each other. Shinji paid extra attention to her breasts, trying to assure her that it didn't matter if she wasn't as large as other women.

Lilia had appreciated that, but everything she was experiencing, from her first kiss to losing her virginity to this young man, was quickly becoming too much for her.

Lilia was panting and moaning hotly as Shinji pleasured her, holding her close and tenderly as she felt like her body was going to explode. Her hands were behind his head, holding him tightly as he thrust up into her body, quickly sending her towards the edge.

' _It's her first time. She won't last too much longer_.' Shinji thought as he held her hips tightly and sped up his thrusts, causing Lilia to cry out even more as she reached her peak.

"Uh! Shinji! I... AHHH!" She cried as she came, hard.

Shinji held onto her naked, sweaty body as she leaned against his chest. She was panting hard and could barely lift her arms to hold on to him. Her orgasm reverberated through her body, quickly drawing her towards her slumber.

"Oooooh." She moaned softly. "That... that was... thank you." She whispered.

"You're welcome." Shinji whispered to her as he gently laid her down on the blanket, his own body as sweaty as hers. He slowly pulled out of her, only to notice that she had fainted.

He got his own clothes back on and then wrapped up Lilia as best he could, before putting her own belongings in his Darkness storage and used 'Rest' chant on himself to make sure he didn't pass out from exhaustion.

He then carried the demi-human archer back to the camp, where he carefully put her in the wagon so she could sleep. He didn't know if anyone had seen him, and if they did he was sure they were going to be cursing him. Ayl and Tia might be a little curious about what happened.

He tried to go back to where his roasted meat had been, but found that Bron had eaten it. The dwarf was sleeping next to the fire where Shinji had been cooking his food and looked 'content'.

Shinji just grumbled before pulling out the bottle of whiskey he bought with Tia and downing it to drown his hunger.

' _I just hope Tia and Hana accept Lilia_.' He thought to himself as he looked at the wagon where Lilia was sleeping.

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Authors Notes:

Sorry this took so long to update, but hopefully everyone enjoys it.

I've been a little under the weather, and I've been trying to get some of my other works updated.

Hasn't been great. Plus I've been having computer troubles.

Anyway, please read and review, and of course enjoy the omakes below.

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OMAKE 1

(Kingdom of Corellia)

"So...they managed to find him." Sonya the paladin asked. She was a tall and athletic female with long, blond hair. She was dressed in silver armor from her neck to her toes, a blue cape billowing behind her.

"They have." Elena the fighter said. She was a lithe an athletic human with fiery red hair and green eyes. She was dressed in a red shirt and pants that were covered by stylish armored plating that covered her wrists, chest, hips and legs. Her mid-riff was exposed as were her hands and head.

The pair were standing behind Vivica the cleric.

Vivica herself was a young woman with dark brown hair and eyes. She was dressed in a colorful red and pink outfit that showed off her long legs. Her outfit was adorned with various jewels and ribbons.

The trio blushed when they saw Isarnia and Jenneh were in bed with him.

"They just got right to it, didn't they?" Elena chuckled.

"Like you wouldn't have done the same?" Sonya smirked.

"Hey! It's been a long time for me!" the fire-haired maiden snapped.

"Ladies, please!" Vivica snapped.

"Sorry." the pair said.

"So... we have a champion of the Gods returned to us." Sonya said.

"They...didn't tell him the real reason they cuddled up with him in their bedrolls?" Elena asked.

"I don't think so." Vivica said.

(Mountain Base Camp)

Shinji was just staring up at the tent ceiling, trying to process everything that had just been explained to him by Isarnia. The ice sorceress had told him everything she could.

1 - he had been frozen in a block of ice for the last 1000 years.

2 - he had been dragged underground too deep for anyone to locate or rescue him.

3 - only recently had a glacier inside a mountain heaved him up from the depths.

4 - the various races of elves, demi-humans, dwarves, orcs, goblins and trolls still existed, though human beings were the majority. (Though Shinji suspected there was something Isarnia wasn't telling him)

5 - the current level of technology had not changed too much from what he knew. Horses, wagons, carriages and ships still existed. Though there were a couple groups who possessed air-ships for faster travel across the oceans and mountain ranges.

6 - virtually all of his friends had been long dead. Hana, Lilia, Yumina, Tia, Tomoe, Juna, Brighid and the others he had met and befriended. While some of them were long-lived, 1000 years is incredibly long. Ayl might still be alive, but...

He sighed.

He did wonder if the Gods were still around. While he knew that they didn't get directly involved unless they absolutely had to, since he had been frozen for 1000 years, he could safely say that they hadn't tried to help him. They existed in another dimension and looked in on their champions from time to time.

The group packed up their belongings and saddled their horses. The small wagon they had was where they put their tent and most of their cooking supplies. It was towed behind one of their horses.

"I can't wait to get back to the city." Layla sighed.

"Actually, we have to make a stop before we return to Corellia." Isarnia said.

"We do? Where?" the Rogue asked.

"Avaloinus." she said.

"The Elf Kingdom? Why?"

"To see their queen."

"But... she hasn't allowed visitors for over 500 years. Why would she grant us an audience?"

"Because of him."

"Shinji? Why?"

"Because she knows him."

It took several hours to get down the mountain and by the time they had reached the forest, it was already sundown.

"We'll camp here for the night and continue on in the morning. We should reach the elf kingdom just before noon." Isarnia said.

"Good idea. I'll get dinner." Sigrunn said.

"I'll help you." Brienne said.

Shinji just looked at the large and majestic forest. He felt something dark and foreboding about it, but also something familiar.

'I wonder if Ayl lives here?' he thought to himself.

Shinji then helped the others set up camp and with making dinner. He still had so many questions, but they had ones as well.

' _Lianna? Are you there?_ ' Shinji thought to the goddess.

 _'Hello, Shinji-kun._ ' a familiar voice called back to him.

' _So you are there!_ '

' _Of course. We Gods cannot die._ '

 _'I suppose I should be glad someone hasn't._ '

' _Are you referring to your past lovers and such?_ '

' _I Am!_ '

 _'I know you are upset, but..._ '

' _A Thousand Years! Why didn't you or the other Gods do something?_ '

' _Because the fate of our champions we left to themselves. We give them the means to survive and thrive in many different worlds, but how they choose to live their lives, what they do with them, and their ultimate fate is in their hands. I have told you this before, Shinji-kun_.'

Shinji sighed, remembering their previous conversations.

' _Yes, you did. It's just... I was frozen for a thousand years. Everyone I know is gone._ '

 _'Not everyone._ '

 _'What do you..._ '

"Shinji Ikari!" a new voice snapped his out of his musings.

Shinji gasped when he saw a pair of figures emerge from the darkness.

The first was an elf woman with shoulder-length blond hair, dressed in a greenish skirt and top, she had vines and plants covering her body, including her legs, and she had a pair of spiked horns protruding from her head. Her hands and legs seemed to be stained green. Belith the druid elf mystic.

The second figure was also an elf, but this one was wearing a dark-green bodysuit underneath metallic green armor. She had long whitish hair that came down past her butt, and she carried a spear and an intricate shield. Kadilen the druid elf soldier.

"I am Belith, and this is Kadilen." the druid said to him.

Before anyone could say anything, Isarnia and the others came out of the tent.

"What is going on?" Brienne asked.

"Our Queen wishes to see you." Kadilen said.

"All of us?" Ragnhild asked.

"No. Just him." Kadilen said to them, pointing to Shinji.

"Wait, just a minute!" Sigrunn said.

"We spent a lot of time and effort trying to find him, not to mention bring him back to our kingdom. You can't just take him." Ragnhild stated.

"We have our orders!" Kadilen said.

"Stop!" Isarnia said. "I will go with Shinji, the rest of you wait here."

"What? Are you sure about this?" Layla asked.

"I am."

"We can't let you go in alone!" Brienne said.

"At least let one other go with you."

"Jenneh." Isarnia said.

"I don't like this." Ragnhild said.

"Neither do I." Sigrunn said.

With that, the three adventurers left with the two elves in the forest.

"And now... we wait." Sigrunn huffed.

"I KNOW!" Brienne growled. "I hate waiting."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

OMAKE 2

Shinji was telling the group the story of 'The Mummy'.

"But the pair had been caught by the mighty king of the desert. He stared at the shoulder of his mistress, demanding to know who had touched her. The mistress looked behind the mighty king and the king turned to face the man. He gasped when he saw that it was his own high priest. The high priest quickly grabbed the sword from the kings scabbard. Before the king could react, the mistress pulled a dagger from behind the statue she was standing next to, and plunged it into the back of the king. The high priest swung the sword and together they ended the desert kings life. Before his final breath left him, the doors to the kings chamber burst open, and the kings guards entered the room. The mistress told the high priest to escape, but the high priest refused, only for her to say that only he could resurrect her. The high priest left as the kings guard entered the bed chambers, finding their sovereign dead. The mistress quickly took her dagger and thrust it into her body."

Bron was eagerly listening to the story, his eyes glued to Shinji as he continued to stuff roast meat into his mouth.

Ayl was fascinated by the story, as were Tia and Lilia.

"The High Priest and his loyal followers broke into her crypt and stole her body, racing deep into the desert towards the ancient city of the dead. The High Priest removed the spell book, called the Book of The Dead, from its sacred resting place, to use in the ritual to bring his beloved back from the dead. He summoned her back from the dark underworld, and was about to complete the ritual to give her new life, only to be stopped by the kings royal guards, who had followed him and stopped the ritual before it could be completed. The mistresses soul was pulled back into the dark underworld because of the High Priests failure. The High Priest's followers were condemned to be buried alive, but the High Priest himself was condemned to be not only buried alive but forced to endure the worst of all ancient curses, one so horrible it had never before been bestowed. He would be the Undead for all eternity, sealed within his wooden coffin and again within his stone sarcophagus. For if he was ever to awaken, he would arise a walking disease, a plague upon mankind, an unholy flesh-eater with the strength of ages, power over the sands, and the glory of invincibility!"

Ayl smiled as she thought Shinji was being just a little over dramatic at that last bit.

"And... what happened after that?" Bron asked, both Tia and Lilia eager to know.

"Nothing. For 3000 years after the High Priest was buried, men and armies fought over the ancient land for it's wealth of treasure that was buried there. Never knowing what evil lay beneath their feet. And for all that time, the descendants of the desert kings royal bodyguards, kept watch over the city where the High Priest was buried. But it was after this 3000 years that a young soldier and his garrison came across the ancient city. In a battle against a horde of bandits, all but the soldier were killed. He escaped into the desert and eventually made it back to civilization. Three years after that, he was approached by a young scholar who sought out the ancient city, and together with her brother they..."

"Her brother? The scholar was a woman?"

"Yes. Women can read. And some are very interested in ancient history."

"Yeah!"

"Okay, okay!"

"Anyway, the scholar saved the soldiers life and convinced him to take her and her brother to the city of the dead. Their journey was fraught with dangers, including others who sought the ancient city as well as the descendants of the desert kings guards. When they finally reached the city of the dead, they..."

"Oh! We're here!" Ayl said, interrupting the story as the wagon came to the gates of Ithalan.

"What? But I wanted to hear how the story ended!" Lilia whined.

"Me too!" Bron said.

"Later. We have to check in with the Adventurers Guild and get our 'merchandise' appraised and then I want a bath, some of Hana's cooking, and a nice bed." the elf adventurer said.

Shinji sided up to Ayl and smiled.

"Thank you for that. I don't know how much longer I could keep talking." he said as he rubbed his throat.

"Don't thank me yet. I too want to hear how that story ended."

' _I wonder if I should tell them about the two sequels and the Scorpion King story?_ ' Shinji said as he followed his mentor into the city.


	20. Yumina's Request

_**SHINJI'S NEW LIFE  
**_ By Gunman & Reisfriend

Disclaimer: We own nothing and most likely never will.

Summary: Shinji is promoted and he meets the princess once again with Ayl.

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Chapter 20  
 **Yumina's Request**

Lilia had curled up on Shinji's lap as they sat in the wagon, waiting for their arrival to Ithalan. The caravan was about 5 miles away from the capital, which made Ayl impatient because she wanted to eat Hana's food and sleep in a bed she had come accustomed to.

Shinji and Lilia had talked after their first session in the woods. The demi-human archer had been blushing like mad as she told him that she had been really nervous as she bluntly stated that she wanted to be his lover, since she wasn't sure if he would accept her as his lover, even when he had told her that she was cute and he liked her.

Lilia also thanked him for accepting her and indulging her by letting her lose her virginity to him and making her feel pleasure she had been curious about for a long time. Shinji had assured her that he found her desirable, not just because she was cute, but an honest and friendly girl who was also reliable. But he did say that she would have to settle the matter with Tia and Hana.

The pantherian girl talked with the quarter-vampire as the caravan was moving towards Ithalan and Tia made Lilia promise that in the city, Hana would get to have Shinji, but Tia and Lilia would have to find a way to settle which one get's to have him during quests.

Lilia and Shinji were glad that Tia accepted her in his 'harem', though he was unsure if Hana would agree to it, even when she did say that she was glad that more people were coming over to Shinji and would protect him during quests so he could return to her.

And so far, Lilia and Tia had been sleeping snuggled up to Shinji, which Lilia found extremely pleasant, since she finally found herself a man who accepted her and didn't make fun of her. And the fact that it made her feel content and loved and she slept more soundly.

And as the caravan was nearing Ithalan, Lilia had her cat ears and tail out as she sat on his lap as he told the Lord of Rings story to his friends, who were fascinated by the story. Ayl stated that her favorite character was Gandalf and Tia's was Aragorn. Bron's favorite was Gimli, which didn't surprise Shinji.

Shinji had to admit that having a cute catgirl sit on his lap felt amazing, since she was light and athletic and she smelled good, though he couldn't quite put his finger on what the smell was. Lilia's tail had wrapped around his wrist, which felt good to him and her tight ass against his groin almost gave him a hard on, which he tried to prevent since it would have been embarrassing to have an erection in front of everybody.

Bron was a bit jealous of Shinji, since he was way younger then him and Shinji was already having a harem of beauties fawning over him, while Bron's experience with women was limited to ones in brothels.

"Ithalan is in sight." Horst called out from the drivers seat.

"Finally. I was tired of just sitting here and doing nothing." Bron said, relieved that the wait was over.

The ride had been uneventful. No monsters or bandits, which surprised Shinji. He thought that bandit and monster attacks were common on trips like this, but nothing of the sort happened.

It was mid-afternoon as the caravan arrived at the gates. The adventurers bid farewell to Horst as they jumped off the wagon at the gates and Ayl told them that they should report to the Guild about their quest and get the tiger bodies appraised so they can spend the rest of the day just relaxing.

The others agreed and they headed to the Guild, where Krulcifer, Sharis and Bolgan were at their counters, Krulcifer and Sharis were talking with other adventurers who were about to take on a quest or were reporting that the quest was completed.

Ayl went over to Sharis.

"Miss Ayl, how did the quest go?" the woman asked the elf adventurer.

"We managed to exterminate the tigers. There were a total of 52 of them." Ayl replied as she handed the quest completion form to Sharis, who verified the signature and seal in the paper.

"And Rompso paid you the 5 gold coins he promised?" Sharis asked.

"Yes. The reward was crappy, but at least we won't have to worry about running out of meat now." Ayl said.

"True. But come back tomorrow with Shinji. We have a request for the two of you and we are promoting Shinji to E-rank." Sharis said.

"Alright, we'll come back tomorrow." Ayl said and went back to her team.

"How did it go?" Shinji asked as the elf adventurer came back.

"Shinji, they have a request for the two of us and they are also promoting you to E-rank." Ayl said to her apprentice.

"Congratulations, Shinji." Tia said before Lilia could.

"What kind of request?" Shinji asked.

"Sharis didn't say. We just have to come back tomorrow and find out. Now let's get the bodies examined and collect our reward." Ayl said and went over to Bolgan's counter.

"Miss Ayl, did the tigers give you trouble?" Bolgan asked as the adventurers came over to his counter.

"A few close calls, but nothing too serious. We have 52 tigers I want you to appraise." Ayl replied.

"Come on in then." Bolgan said as he opened the door to the storage. They followed the man and after Lilia and Shinji removed the bodies from the storage, it took a little over an hour for Bolgan to appraise all of them, which annoyed Bron. The dwarf wanted to head to his regular brothel and have a drink.

While they waited, Shinji played rock paper scissors with Ayl and his lovers. Shinji had taught the game to Tia and Lilia during their journey to Allons.

"Alright then, I'll pay you 73 gold and 8 silvers for the bodies." Bolgan said when he was done.

The adventurers accepted the price, since most of the bodies had a lot of holes in them, or were burned or mangled up, which obviously reduced the price. They divided the loot and went their separate ways. Bron had looked at Shinji enviously because he calculated how much everyone would get rather quickly. Tia and Lilia were impressed by his quick calculus.

"Shinji, could we do a hunting quest together sometime?" Lilia asked.

"I don't mind, but I'm not a hunter so I wouldn't know how to hunt." Shinji replied to the archer.

"I could teach you." She offered.

"You don't mind?" Shinji asked.

"I wouldn't offer if I did." She said.

"Well then, let's see if there are any quests when we have time." Shinji said, somewhat looking forward to his hunting training.

Tia grumbled because Lilia beat her to it. She was going to ask Shinji to join her in an herb gathering request.

Arriving at the Silver Eagle, the group entered to find quite a few customers drinking, eating and playing dices. But Hana wasn't behind the counter, instead it was Tillfar, one of the other employees Shinji had seen a few times during his stay.

Shinji walked over to the counter and greeted the girl. "Hey Tillfar."

"Shinji! Good, you're back. Hana is waiting for you in her room." She said.

"Is there something wrong with her?" He asked, since usually Hana was working at this hour.

"She hasn't been sleeping well." Tillfar answered.

Shinji was mildly surprised. Mildly because Hana had mentioned that she hasn't been sleeping well when he wasn't with her.

He didn't say anything, instead he started running up the stairs to Hana's room.

Coming up to her door, Shinji knocked on it and he heard a quiet response. "Who is it?"

"It's Shinji." He replied. Then he heard a crash and the door opened suddenly. Hana looked at him and rubbed her eyes. "Hana, are you..."

Hana captured him in a tight hug, her arms around his neck

"I missed you." She said quietly.

"I missed you too Hana." He said and wrapped his arms around her.

She pulled him inside her room and kicked the door shut.

"It has been difficult to sleep when you are not here." She stated.

"I'm sorry Hana." He replied.

"Will you stay with me through the night now?" She asked, almost desperately.

"Of course. I won't leave you tonight." He replied.

Hana smiled as she released him and stripped herself naked, as did Shinji, before she pulled him onto her bed and quickly snuggled under the covers.

"Nnnnnhhhh. This feels so good." Hana half moaned as she clung on to Shinji, feeling his skin against hers and her breasts mashing against his chest.

Shinji's hand went to her hair and he started to caress it gently.

Hana closed her eyes before asking him: "How was your quest Shinji?"

"It was quite boring spending days just traveling with nothing to do. I passed the time by telling stories to the others. When we got there..." Shinji started, but he soon noticed that Hana had fallen asleep. ' _She must have been very tired from not being able to sleep properly_.' He thought as he looked at her sleeping face, her breathing being slow and barely noticeable.

Deciding to eat later, Shinji fell asleep holding on to the beautiful inn receptionist.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A few hours later, Ayl crept into the room to check on her friends and found her apprentice and favorite cook sleeping soundly. She placed her hand on Hana's forehead to feel her temperature and it seemed normal.

' _She must have just missed Shinji and worried about us while we were away_.' Ayl thought as she exited their room and went to her room to get some rest. She started thinking on how Hana could be able to rest peacefully while Shinji was away.

Shinji woke up, feeling Hana's body pressed up against him. He looked at the window and noticed that it was in the middle of the night and he wasn't feeling sleepy anymore.

' _Damn. Now I'll be awake the whole night_.' Shinji cursed in his head.

But seeing how content and peaceful Hana looked as she slept and the fact that he promised to stay with her, he decided to just endure it.

' _Shinji, can you hear me?_ ' He heard a voice in his head.

' _Lianna-sama?_ ' He asked in his mind.

' _Who else? I'm going to come over to see you, so don't get surprised_.' Lianna told him and soon she just appeared next to the bed.

"Good to see you again Lianna-sama." Shinji said genuinely.

"Fufu, I have to admit, I'm quite jealous of Hana right now." She said with a toothy smile.

Shinji looked at her with a puzzled face.

"I just wish I had someone to share a bed with." Lianna clarified.

"Even Gods sleep?" Shinji asked in surprise.

"Of course we do. Even Gods get tired sometimes and we can go to sleep whenever we want." She answered.

"Did you come to warn me about something again?" Shinji asked, changing the topic.

"Sort of. I came to offer you something as thanks for entertaining me so well." She answered.

"What kind of offer?" Shinji asked curiously.

"Since your lover here has trouble sleeping when you are away, I could make her sleep pleasantly whenever she tries to sleep." Lianna explained.

"You mean she could get a good night's sleep even when I'm not here?" Shinji asked and Lianna nodded. "Then please do so." Shinji pleaded.

"You don't have to beg Shinji. Doing that much for my amusing champion is no trouble." Lianna said with a kind smile.

"Thank you." Shinji thanked her.

"This way you can focus on your adventures without having to worry about Hana being unable to sleep properly. You're such a worrywart Shinji-kun, but I like that about you." Lianna added.

Shinji snorted from that comment. A Goddess telling him that she liked something about his character was something he never thought he would hear.

"And what is this warning?" Shinji asked.

"Ah yes, you are soon going to meet someone who is favored by the Goddess of Beauty. She took a liking to this child and made sure that she has grown exceptionally beautiful. When you see this child, your heart is going to start racing. She is quite literally the most beautiful human girl you will ever meet in this world. Only the elven women rival her in beauty." Lianna explained.

Shinji stared at the Goddess with a surprised and dumbfounded expression and he was getting nervous. A Goddess telling him that he will meet someone whom the Gods deem as the most beautiful human girl in the world. The idea made his heart race like crazy.

"And... that's your warning?" Shinji asked, trying to calm down.

"No. The warning is this: Don't get too friendly with her. The Goddess of Beauty might not like it that a human man is getting too close to her favored child. I'm not sure what she might do to you. Normally she casts a curse that makes the victim exceptionally ugly, but since you can remove curses like that thanks to my blessing, I don't know what she might do to you." Lianna answered.

Shinji grumbled. A Goddess coming after him just because he got too close to someone sounded really bothersome.

"So who is it?" Shinji asked.

"Trust me Shinji, when you see her tomorrow, you'll know." Lianna replied with a mischievous smile and waved her hand over his face.

"But..." He started to say but he fell asleep.

"I don't want to spoil the surprise Shinji." Lianna said before she vanished back to the Gods Realm.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Morning)

"Nngghh!" Shinji groaned as he woke up. He was feeling quite sluggish due to being asleep for about a day thanks to Lianna.

' _She just enjoys giving me these cryptic warnings about something that will happen_.' He whined in his head as he stretched his body to wake up.

His curiosity was now killing him. Lianna told him that he will meet a girl whom the Gods deem as the most beautiful human girl of this world and decides not to reveal who it is because she doesn't want to spoil the surprise. And the women he had met so far were quite beautiful, Ayl especially. Any one of them would have been very popular in his world and even idols wouldn't match their beauty and now he was going to meet someone who was even more beautiful then them.

' _Aahh! Who could it be?! Don't tease me like this Lianna-sama_!' Shinji shouted in his head, hoping that Lianna heard him.

In the Gods Realm, Lianna heard him loud and clear and almost keeled over from laughter. Goddess of Love also snickered at his complaint.

But truthfully, he was nervous and excited at the same time. He never thought that he would meet someone who was labeled 'literally the most beautiful human girl in the world' and he was also curious to know how beautiful the said person really was.

"Mmnn, Shinji." Hana moaned.

"Hana, did you sleep well?" He asked, looking at her sleepy face.

"Much better now that you were here." She replied and kissed him as she rose up.

Before Shinji could say anything, his stomach growled loudly, which made Hana giggle.

"You didn't eat anything yesterday?" Hana asked with an amused smile.

"No. Tillfar said that you had trouble sleeping so I rushed to you right away." He replied.

"Maybe I should go buy some sleeping medicine from the alchemist." Hana said as she got up and started dressing.

"I can buy it for you." Shinji said as he pulled his pants on.

"No. I'll buy it myself." Hana countered.

"Well, it's my fault that you haven't been sleeping properly when I'm not here, so I should buy it for you. And money is not an issue." Shinji insisted.

She kissed him again as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Since you insist so much, then you can buy it for me. And you should take responsibility for making me addicted to sleeping with you." Hana said in a joking manner.

Shinji smirked at Hana's remark. "I'll buy it after my promotion."

"Promotion? Are you getting promoted by the Guild?" Hana asked.

"Yes, Ayl told me this when we went to report that our quest was completed." Shinji answered.

"Congratulations Shinji." Hana said before she kissed him again.

As they kissed, Shinji stomach growled again, which made Hana laugh again.

"But let's get some food in you first Shinji." She said as she went to the door with him.

Shinji really wanted to tell Hana that his Goddess would come over to make her sleep properly from now on when he wasn't around, but couldn't. And his mind kept wandering back to Lianna's warning about him meeting the one who was favored by the Goddess of Beauty.

They went over to the kitchen and Hana pulled out her breakfast from the cabinet, which was sandwiches and vegetables. Shinji poured water in the goblets he found with water magic.

"Would you tell me about your quest now Shinji? I fell asleep before you could." Hana said as she ate.

Shinji told her about the ranch where the Bloodtigers had killed cattle and some of the workers. Then he told her how Ayl had planned out how they could kill the tigers and come out alive and how the battle turned out. Then he told her about the clean-up and about his date with Tia in Allons.

"Those tigers sound so scary Shinji. Weren't you afraid?" Hana asked.

"I was, but I knew that I would die if I didn't do anything. And I also had friends backing me up." Shinji replied.

"I'm also a bit jealous of Tia. She got to go on a date with you in another town. I want to see other towns as well." Hana pouted cutely.

Shinji thought about her comment for a while before he said: "How about you come with us Hana? If we head out to another town on a quest you could come with us."

Hana looked at him before she said: "But I would have to wait for you in the town if you head out to the wilderness. I would be all alone in an unfamiliar town."

"Oh, right. Sorry." Shinji apologized after she stated the problem with his idea.

"But I appreciate the offer Shinji. I really would like to go visit another town, but I don't want to go alone." Hana said.

"Well, if there is a quest where we don't have to leave the town, would you come with us then?" Shinji asked.

"In that case yes. But I think quests like that are rare." Hana said.

Shinji was about to say something until they heard Ayl. "Shinji, where are you!?"

"Over here Ayl. What is it?" Shinji asked as he opened the kitchen door.

"When you're done eating, let's head over to the Guild." Ayl said.

"What's the hurry Ayl?" Hana asked from the doorway.

"The Guild has a request for me and Shinji. I don't know what it is yet." Ayl replied.

Hana looked at the elf with a surprised face. She also wondered what kind of request could it be.

Half an hour later, Ayl and Shinji were heading to the Guild after having eaten a light breakfast, with Ayl mentioning the stories Shinji told them during their journey and Hana said that she wanted to hear those stories as well.

Arriving at the Guild, the usual staff of Sharis, Bolgan and Krulcifer were at their counters handling the adventurers. Ayl said that they should wait until they could talk to Krulcifer, so they went to look over the available requests until the adventurers left.

"Krulcifer, Sharis said that you had a request for me and Shinji." Ayl said as she and Shinji came over to the blunette.

"Yes, but before we get to that, let's give Shinji his promotion. Follow me." She said and lead them to a backroom.

The room was quite similar to the one where he filled out the paperwork with Ayl when he registered to the Guild, except that there was a small black case on the table.

"Now Shinji, place your tag inside the case." Krulcifer instructed as she closed the door.

Shinji did as she said and then the receptionist continued her explanation. "We will channel our mana into the case and your status will be updated to an E-rank. Now take my hand."

Shinji took her hand and placed his free hand on Krulcifers other hand she placed on the case.

"Now focus Shinji. Channel your mana to the case."

He did as she instructed. Channeling mana to the case wasn't that different from channeling mana into a mana stone, so he had little difficulty doing as Krulcifer instructed.

Ayl had a flashback to the moment when she and her lover Vanir were promoted to E-ranks. She looked away from Krulcifer and Shinji, suppressing the urge to cry.

After a minute, Krulcifer raised her hand from the case, along with Shinji's and said: "It is done. Take your tag Shinji."

Shinji opened the case and didn't see any difference in his updated tag, so he said: "Open."

His status screen became visible and the only info that changed was his adventurer rank and his title, which now had healer right below the Apprentice Adventurer title.

"Congratulations on your promotion Shinji." Krulcifer said with a cute smile.

"Thank you miss Krulcifer." Shinji and placed the tag back around his neck.

"And now, about the request we had for you two." Krulcifer said and exited the room with the adventurers following her back to her counter. She pulled out a sheet from under the counter. "Here is the request I was talking about."

Shinji and Ayl read the paper and gasped when they saw that the one who made the request was princess Yumina and she was requesting the said adventurers to come over and entertain her.

"Is this a prank this time Krulcifer?" Ayl asked before Shinji could.

"It is not. I could hardly believe it when I read it, but this is a real thing. The Royal Family's messenger brought it here three days after you left to Allons." Krulcifer replied.

"Shinji, what does the princess want with us?" Ayl asked Shinji with a displeased look on her face.

"She probably wants us to tell her about our adventures." Shinji replied.

"Probably?" Ayl asked.

"Yumina said that she wants to meet you so she could ask you about the outside world." Shinji clarified.

"Well, it is understandable. She doesn't get to go out and meet people like we can. And you did say that she was a fan of mine." Ayl said and started thinking. Shinji had learned that when Ayl was thinking, it was best to leave her be.

"The princess is Ayl's fan?" Krulcifer asked Shinji.

"She told me that she has heard of Ayl from the maids and guards who told her stories about Ayl." Shinji answered.

"And what kind of disease did the princess have?" The blunette asked.

"She had a disease that made her head hurt constantly." Shinji answered, though he couldn't tell her the name of the disease, since it was most likely unheard of in this world. Most diseases didn't have proper scientific names. "And how have you been doing Krulcifer?" Shinji asked.

"A lot better now that my bones won't break so easily. Again, thank you Shinji." Krulcifer said.

"Wait. You had a disease Krulcifer?" Ayl asked suddenly.

"I never told you, because you would have made a fuss about it. I had a disease that made my bones easy to break, but Shinji cured me. Now I can enjoy living and go out." Krulcifer said.

"You are going to tell me about this later Shinji. Let's go meet the princess." Ayl said.

"Is it okay?" Shinji asked his mentor.

"Well, it might be troublesome, but I have always wanted to meet a princess." Ayl said.

"The elves don't have a princess?" Shinji asked.

"At the moment, no. The current queen was a princess before I was born. She became queen a year after I was born." Ayl replied.

"I see. Well, shall we go?" Shinji asked.

"Yes, let's go." Ayl said and started walking with her apprentice following.

On their way to the Royal District, Shinji told Ayl how he cured Krulcifer from her disease after she broke her arm and Lilia came to bring him over to the blunette. Ayl thanked Shinji for what he did.

He also told her about Tomoe's cousin and how he cured him. Ayl looked displeased when she heard how Tomoya had been rude towards his savior, but understood his reasons when Shinji told her why Tomoya acted like he did.

They arrived at the gates of the Royal District, Shinji having a flashback about the time he first entered the palace and cured the princess.

"They put magic prevention collars on us?" Ayl asked, remembering Shinji's tale about his first visit.

"Yes, it is one of the security measures of this place." Shinji replied.

"I'll just have endure it then." Ayl said and approached the guards with Shinji.

"Halt! What is your business here?" The familiar guard asked the elf. Ayl was currently in her male form thanks to her cloak.

"I am Ayl Valtharos from the Adventurers Guild and this is my apprentice Shinji Ikari. We are here on the request of the princess." Ayl replied and showed the paper to the guard.

The guard seemed to recognize Shinji, but didn't say anything about it. "Show me your ID."

"Open." Ayl and Shinji said as they opened their status screens. The guard looked over the screens and after a moment, he said: "Very well. We will take you to the place where the princess comes to meet you."

The guard instructed another guard to go over to the castle and tell someone to inform the princess that her guests have arrived and then return to his post. The other guards came up behind the adventurers, weapons ready.

The guard they spoke to retrieved the collars from a lockbox that was at the guardhouse near the gate.

"Now you will have to wear these when you meet the princess and we will search you for weapons." The guard said.

Ayl grimaced because of the collars, but they allowed the guards to put them on, and after the pat down the guards escorted them to a garden terrace where they sat down at the table and the guards kept watching them until their replacements came over, so they headed back to their posts at the gate.

The table was made from white wood, as were the chairs which had comfortable cushions on them and the table had a wide roof made from leather to provide sunscreen.

"Ayl, have you thought about what you are going to tell the princess?" Shinji asked.

"If she wants to know about the outside world, I can tell her quite a lot of things from the many towns and cities I have been to, as well as forests. If she wants to know about my adventures, then I have a few picked out that I don't mind talking about. But remember Shinji, when she comes here, stand up." Ayl answered.

"Got it. I just hope they serve refreshments." Shinji said.

"Likewise." Ayl agreed.

Ayl and Shinji waited at the table for almost 15 minutes and played rock paper scissors to pass the time. Then they saw princess Yumina walking over with her butler Laim, who was pushing a cart filled with drinks and snacks. Shinji noticed that she was wearing the same elegant white dress she wore when he first met her.

"Shinji! It's so good see you again." Yumina exclaimed as she came over to the table and they stood up.

"Princess. Have you been feeling well?" Shinji asked, smiling lightly because Yumina looked very cute when she smiled like she did.

"Please take a seat." She said and they sat down. "And to answer your question, I have been feeling better then ever and it is all thanks to you. I don't have to endure pain whenever I am awake anymore."

"I'm glad to hear that." Shinji said and Yumina turned her gaze to Ayl.

"Greetings princess Yumina. I am Ayl Valtharos. Shinji told me that you had wanted to meet me." Ayl said.

"I have. But I was under the impression that you were a woman." Yumina said, looking disappointed.

"I am. I am currently disguised as a man thanks to this cloak." She replied and took it off, letting the cloak rest on the back of the chair and Ayl turned into her real form.

Yumina gasped when she saw Ayl's true form. She gasped again when she saw how big Ayl's breasts were and felt jealous of the elven warrior. She regained her composure and asked: "The messenger told me that you were in Allons not too long ago, exterminating Bloodtigers."

"We were. The ranch owned by the Rompso family was being harassed by the tigers and we were set to exterminate them. We also saved the meat production in this region." Ayl said.

"How many tigers were there?" Yumina asked, intrigued.

"There were 52 of them." Ayl said.

"How did you defeat them?" she asked.

"We used traps and magic to kill most of them and then we used our weapons to kill the rest." Ayl answered.

"Amazing. How many adventurers were with you?" The princess asked.

"Just me, Shinji, our friends Tia and Lilia as well as Bron, a dwarf." Ayl replied.

"There were 5 of you and 52 tigers and you prevailed. That is too amazing." Yumina complimented.

"Without the traps and magic, it would have been more difficult." Shinji added.

"I believe that. But the reason I called you here is because I have wanted to ask Ayl about the outside world. Miss Ayl, would you tell me about it?" Yumina asked.

"What would you like to know?" Ayl asked as Laim served them drinks.

"Tell me about the towns and cities and the people you have met. And any ruins you have explored." Yumina clarified.

"Very well. Let's start with Evenmoor." Ayl said and began explaining.

For the next 6 hours, Ayl told Yumina about the towns and cities she had visited, as well as the people she had met during her journeys, both living and the dead. She also told her about some of the quests she had done when she was in one of the mentioned towns. She never mentioned any of her friends who died during the quest or Vanir.

She also told Yumina about the monsters and bandits she had killed during the quests she talked about, some of them made Yumina shiver because some of the monsters sounded quite scary. The guards and the butler also listened to the stories and were either impressed or jealous.

Then Ayl got to the part where she met Shinji at the Hearth Inn after her giant spider subjugation quest and how she saved him from the bandits that Brighid and the Rangers were after. Shinji also explained why he came to Ithalan by telling his cover story that Lianna provided. Yumina expressed her condolences and sympathy for him.

Ayl also told about the goblin attack where she was poisoned and Shinji saved her by curing the poison and how she trained him. Then Shinji told Yumina how he met Hana at the Silver Eagle Inn and cured her diseases and they became lovers and met her aunt Juna, whom Yumina also knew as the most famous songstress of Ithalan. Then he told her about Tia whom he fought and won and how she saved them when they were surrounded by silver wolves.

During the explanation of their adventures, they both didn't mention Shinji's metallic abilities, instead they told her how Shinji used his water and darkness magic to defeat enemies.

Then the story about Mirian came up and how he met and saved Lilia with Ayl and Tia. They didn't mention the fairies or the bear. Krulcifer and her case was also explained by Shinji.

Shinji also told the young princess how he and Tia became lovers and some of Tia's story was also mentioned. Ayl also told about their Bloodtiger extermination quest in Allons in more detail and Shinji also told how Lilia became his third lover and why Lilia ran away from home and why she had lousy luck in romance.

BANG!

Yumina suddenly slammed her hands on the table.

"What's wrong, princess?" Shinji asked, everyone surprised by the girls sudden outburst. Especially Laim.

"I am so envious of you!" Yumina whined loudly.

"Envious?" Ayl asked.

"You get to travel the kingdom and the land as you please and when you please and you get to meet all kinds of people and experience all kinds of different things. And your fateful encounters with those women you became lovers with. It's so romantic." Yumina said with an envious face.

Before either of them could say anything, Yumina continued.

"I can't even visit the city and the things I can do in the castle is limited. It is unfair! I want to experience those things you told me and meet people and maybe find love and help people." Yumina whined and slumped on the table in a funny manner.

Ayl and Shinji sweat dropped from the tantrum Yumina just did.

"It's not always as pleasant as you think princess." Ayl said.

Yumina looked up from the table.

"I have lost friends in these quests to monsters. I have met people who lost their children to monsters and bandits. I have seen people ripped apart in horrific ways. I have seen so much death during my time as an adventurer." Ayl said.

Yumina looked at the elven warrior. She hadn't even considered the darker side of adventuring. She only saw the romantic aspect of it.

"My apologies for that outburst. It's just that I want to experience new things." Yumina said, pouting cutely.

"Was there something else you wanted with us princess? We have talked to you for a long time now." Ayl asked.

"Ah, actually there is one other thing I want you to do. Actually, I want Shinji to heal my sister." Yumina said.

"Your sister?" Shinji asked.

"My half-sister actually. My father has three wives. My sister Helene is sick and no medicine has been able to cure her." Yumina said.

"What's wrong with her?" Shinji asked. Ayl also got interested.

"She has been feeling weak and unable to stand or stay awake. Almost like her body is weakening." Yumina explained.

"Would you show me to her? I will help her." Shinji said.

"You are willing to help?" Yumina asked hopefully.

"Of course. Goddess Lianna blessed me for the purpose of helping people." Shinji replied, though he also wanted to meet another princess and see what she looked like.

Ayl was also quite curious, though another part of her wondered if Shinji should have refused. Since there could be trouble if another princess became aware of her apprentice and his abilities.

"Thank you so much Shinji. Follow me." Yumina said as she got up and started leading the adventurers to Helene's room.

As Yumina lead the way, the number of guards was increased to 4 on their way to Helene's quarters. Shinji asked her how long her sister has been sick and Yumina replied that Helene has been ill for the past 2 years now and no healer has been able to treat her.

Yumina also mentioned how Helene used to keep her company and comfort her when her head still hurt, but when Helene became sick, her visits became rare. All of her other brothers and sisters also seldomly visited her because they were busy with their duties, as well as their parents.

The young princess also asked Ayl if she had any siblings and Ayl replied with a simple no, she was the only child.

Arriving at the long corridor where Shinji had come during his first visit, Yumina lead them past her room to another door, to which she knocked loudly.

"Sister Helene, it's Yumina." She called out.

"Enter." They heard from behind the door.

Yumina opened the door and the adventurers followed her into a room that was very similar to Yumina's, but the bed looked even more lavish with the red satin sheets.

Shinji looked at Helene who was sitting on a comfortable looking chair next to the window, looking at the city. There was also a walking cane resting against the chair.

He gasped and blushed at the same time when he saw Yumina's half-sister. Her blonde hair looked even longer and silkier then Yumina's and her blue eyes looked like finest saphires. Her body was mostly covered by an elegant dress, but he could see that her body was well proportioned and thin. Her breasts also looked like they wouldn't lose to Ayl's or Hana's in terms of size. Her face was also very beautiful, like something that was made by an artist. She also had a platinum tiara on her head.

' _Wait, is she the one Lianna talked about? The most beautiful human girl whom the Goddess of Beauty took a liking to?_ ' Shinji thought after he got over the shock of seeing a beauty like Helene.

Ayl was also impressed by Helene's beauty. She had rarely met elves who were on par with Helene's level of beauty. She thought that how was it even possible for a human to be as beautiful as the princess in front of her.

"Yumina, who are these people?" Helene asked her sister. Shinji noticed that she had barely noticeable bags under her eyes. But her voice gave Shinji a shock, as well as to Ayl. Even her voice sounded very beautiful. With a voice like that, Helene could easily win against Juna in singing, Shinji thought, thinking how popular Helene would be if she was a singer or an idol.

"Sister Helene, these are Shinji Ikari and his mentor Ayl Valtharos." Yumina answered.

"Oh, the adventurers you talked about. I thank you Shinji Ikari, for curing my sisters illness." Helene said sincerely.

"It was my pleasure to help her." Shinji replied nervously, though he hid it quite well.

"Did Yumina ask you to cure me as well?" She asked.

"Yes she did." He answered.

"If you can cure me, I can't thank you enough." Helene said.

"Please help my sister Shinji." Yumina said with a pleading look.

"Could you take this off?" Shinji turned to ask the butler Laim who had followed them.

"Of course." Laim said and took off the collar, actually looking forward to seeing Shinji's healing powers once again.

"Appraise." Shinji said and Helene's status screen came visible.

Helene Teresia Mercouri-Belfast. Age: 19. Race: Human. Condition: Multiple sclerosis. Required chant: Cure Heal. Helene's legs and torso had the light on them, which made Shinji unsure where he should touch her in order to cure her.

Yumina and Helene looked at the healer who had a puzzled look on his face.

"What's wrong Shinji?" Helene asked before Yumina could.

"I'm not sure where I should touch you in order to cure you." He answered.

"You have to touch me?" Helene asked.

"Is it a problem?" Shinji asked.

"No, I am just not used to being touched by a man." Helene replied and she had a small blush on her face.

Shinji thought that her blushing face was so cute that he would have had a massive nosebleed if this had been a manga.

And after a few seconds of thinking, Shinji thought that maybe her shoulders will suffice. He walked behind Helene and said: "I am going try to cure you now. I will put my hands on your shoulders and apply the healing power into you."

"A-Alright. Go ahead." Helene said nervously.

Helene felt shivers when she felt Shinji's hands on her shoulders, but after Shinji said 'Cure Heal', she gasped from the pleasant sensation as the healing power coursed through her.

After a few seconds, the healing power stopped and Shinji removed his hands from her shoulders and walked in front of her.

"How do you feel?"

"Ah. I feel... good. I haven't felt this good in two years." Helene replied, clenching her hands into fists and stretching her legs.

"Appraise." Shinji said as he appraised her again and her status screen showed that she had no conditions. "Princess Helene, my appraisal says you are cured now." Shinji said.

She stood up from the chair and gracefully walked around the room. She then twirled around and then lifted her left leg to balance on her right foot. Yumina looked at her sister with a smile on her face while Laim placed the collar back on Shinji's neck.

When Helene stopped moving, she said: "Shinji, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for curing me." She bowed down in gratitude to Shinji.

The guards looked at Shinji enviously while Laim and Yumina smiled. Ayl was quite surprised to see a princess bowing to a commoner.

"I can feel my energy returning and my body feels light again. How can I repay you?" Helene spoke with a beautiful smile, which made him blush again.

Before Shinji could say anything, Yumina spoke: "Laim, the reward."

The butler reached into his pocket and pulled out three diamonds and presented them to Ayl.

"I prepared your rewards when I called you two here. The two diamonds are for telling me your stories and third one is for curing my sister." The younger princess explained.

"Thank you. This is most generous of you." Ayl replied politely and pocketed the diamonds.

"Shinji, will you come to visit me if I summon you?" Helene asked.

"Huh? You wish to see me again?" Shinji asked in surprise.

"Of course. I wish to get to know my savior and hear about your adventures." She answered.

"My lady, it is almost time." Laim told Yumina.

"Yes. It is unfortunate, but you have to leave the castle now. Your visit here was limited to sundown." Yumina told the adventurers with a disappointed look.

"But we are going to summon you again. I wish to know more about you Shinji." Helene told Shinji as she came closer to him.

Shinji thought that she smelled good. Better then his lovers and Ayl combined.

"I'm looking forward to it princess." He said and turned to leave.

"I wish you good luck on your travels." Helene said before he exited the room with Ayl.

"Thank you." He countered and left. Laim closed the door, leaving the sisters alone in the room.

"Yumina, you were right. Shinji is a really interesting person. I can't wait to see him again." Helene said excitedly.

"They told me about their adventures and how they met. Do you want me to tell you what they told me?" Yumina asked.

"Yes, please do." Helene said eagerly.

Though Yumina wondered what the adventurers were hiding. Her magic eyes (which had been restored thanks to Shinji curing her migraine) could determine people's character just by looking at them and though the adventurers had been mostly honest with her, there was something they deliberately left out from their story, which made her really curious.

' _Shinji Ikari, what secrets are you hiding?_ ' Yumina wondered as she started telling Helene the story she heard from Ayl and Shinji.

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About 10 minutes later, Shinji and Ayl exited the Royal District and the sun had almost set.

"Well, this was an interesting day." Ayl said as they walked towards the Silver Eagle Inn.

"It was. And Helene is a real beauty." Shinji said, still in daze because of her beauty.

"Taken fancy to her already?" Ayl asked with a teasing smirk.

"Maybe a little bit. A beauty like her would be sought after by everyone in my world." Shinji said.

"I bet. If everyone knew how beautiful the princess was, everyone would want to marry her." Ayl commented. 'Then again, every villain imaginable would come after her as well.'

"I can't wait to see the look on the others face when we tell them that we met another princess." Shinji said a bit childishly.

"And I think that we can get at least 100 gold coins for these diamonds." Ayl said as she pulled out 2 of the diamonds and handed them to Shinji.

After Shinji had pocketed the diamonds, he heard a voice in his head.

' _Shinji Ikari. You dared to lay hands on my favored child. I forgive you this time since you helped her, but if you lay your hands on her again, you will suffer_.'

' _What the...! The Goddess of Beauty?_ ' Shinji thought when the unfamiliar voice vanished.

"What's wrong Shinji?" Ayl asked, having noticed that her apprentice had stopped walking.

"Uh, nothing. I'm just a bit tired." Shinji replied, though Ayl noticed that he was hiding something. They kept walking and got back to the Inn.

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Authors Notes:

From Reisfriend: And here we have the 20th chapter. To commemorate this I ask you readers to review and tell us what you think about the story so far.

And if you didn't know, Princess Yumina is from In a Different World with a Smartphone and princess Helene is from Kujibiki Tokushou Musou Harem-ken.

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OMAKE 1

The group had eaten and drunk their fill, back at Hana's Inn, but had been waiting for Shinji to finish his exciting story he was telling on their way back.

"So, finish the story, Shinji!" Lilia begged.

"Yes! Please?" Tia begged.

"Okay, okay, okay." Shinji said with a sigh. Hana sat down next to him, wanting to hear this story as well. "So... the explorers had managed to reach the city of the dead in the middle of the desert. They had been followed by their competitors and set up two different camps. The lady scholar and the soldier had found a back entrance to the underground tomb. They navigated through the darkness until they came to the statue of the God of the Dead. It was said that the Book of the Dead was hidden in a secret compartment in the base of the statue. But before they could check the statue, their competitors arrived. A tense stand-off was felt between the two groups, before the lady scholar decided to dig somewhere else."

"She gave up?" Bron asked. "Sounds like a woman." He scoffed.

The other women just glared at the dwarf.

"No, she just decided that violence wasn't the answer." Shinji explained. "She lead her group into the lower levels of the tomb, where she and her associates found the coffin belonging to the High Priest. While the scholar, the soldier and her brother tried to open the coffin, the fourth member of their party had been searching another part of the tomb looking for treasure. But he was attacked by a flesh-eating beetle that caused him to run straight into a wall, killing him. Meanwhile, the other tomb raiders found the Book of the Dead, but accidentally brought about a curse upon themselves. That same night, the two groups were attacked by the descendants of the desert kings royal guards called the Medjai. The guards warned them that they had to leave the city or die. The Medjai left and the two groups decided to work together. The lady scholar had used the key to open the coffin to open the Book, when everyone was asleep, and reading from the spell book, she awoke the High Priest, and brought about the ancient plagues that were once prophesized. The mummified High Priest assimilated the fluids and organs from one of the other explorers and began to regenerate. The soldier, the scholar and the others escaped the city and made it back to civilization. But the High Priest followed them, and one-by-one attacked all those who had disturbed the resting place of the Book of the Dead. The soldier, the scholar and her brother went to the curator of the museum where the scholar worked, and found the leader of the Medjai, who told them about their ancient secret society that have protected the City of the Dead since the desert kings death. The lady scholar then determined that they can defeat the High Priest if they find another book, the Golden Book of the Living, to counter the spells of the Book of the Dead."

Hana was now thoroughly engrossed in the story, wondering before what she missed.

"The High Priest fully regenerated himself, and kidnapped the lady scholar in order to use her to return his lover to the living world. The leader of the desert kings guards helped the soldier and her brother return to the city, the soldier enlisting the help of an old friend to fly them towards the city to..."

"Wait, fly? Like... on a giant eagle or dragon?" Bron asked.

"No. In an airplane." Shinji said.

"A what?" The dwarf asked.

"Maybe I should explain that later. Anyway... the soldier and his friends fly to the city of the dead, but are attacked by the High Priest. He conjures a giant sandstorm to kill them, but they survive and make it into the underground tomb. But the High Priest resurrects his fellow priests and uses them to attack the soldier and his friends. The kings guard leader holds off the undead priests while the soldier and the scholars brother find the High Priest about to sacrifice the lady scholar and stop him, by using the Golden Book of the Living as bait. The soldier battles the High Priest, but is unable to stop him because of his powers that make him invincible. The lady scholar and her brother use the Golden Book in order to remove the High Priests powers, making him mortal. The soldier plunges a sword into the High Priests stomach, mortally wounding him and causing him to be taken back to the underworld. With the High Priest dead, the trio of adventurers are about to leave the city with the vast wealth of treasures, when the entire city starts to sink into the sands. One of the High Priests flunkies accidentally triggers a trap to cause the city to sink beneath the sands and is devoured by the flesh eating beetles before he could escape, while the soldier and the others run for their lives. They barely make it out of the city before it is swallowed up by the desert, where they meet the leader of the kings guards who had made it out as well. The leader offers his gratitude to them for stopping the High Priest, and departs for his tribe. The soldier and the lady scholar confess their love for each other, and the three of them leave the desert in order to live happily ever after."

The group looks at Shinji for several seconds, the women swooning at the happy ending. Bron, however, kinda scoffs at the sappy ending.

"That was great!" Hana said.

"Yeah! Do you have any other stories to tell?" Lilia asked.

"And what's this airplane you mentioned?" Bron asked.

Shinji groaned, realizing he had backed himself into a corner with that little slip.

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OMAKE 2

Shinji continued through the vast and dense forest, lead by the two elves, Belith and Kadilen, and accompanied by his two new allies - Isarnia and Jenneh - behind them.

He was very curious as to who their queen was and why she wanted to see him.

There was a small part of him that hoped she was who he thought she might be.

The group walked through the forest, feeling like hours, before they eventually reached the largest and tallest of the trees. They climbed up through the almost natural stairs of the largest tree and stopped when they came to a large gathering area.

"Wait here." Kadilen said, leaving the group to go and inform her Queen.

While the elven warrior departed, the elven mage Belith approached Shinji. She had been curious as to the who the champion was, having only heard stories of him from other sources, mostly that of her queen.

"Shinji Ikari." Belith said.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Before the queen arrives, I was hoping to speak to you privately."

Isarnia and Jenneh were only a few feet away from them, looking around at the splendor of the elven kingdom that they had never before had a chance to witness.

The Elven kingdoms had closed their borders many years ago after constant attacks and disputes amongst the ruling classes and other kingdoms. Isarnia and Jenneh and their allies had never been in any of the kingdoms before.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Shinji asked.

"I have heard of you. And of your many lovers." she sid.

Shinji blushed, but looked confused.

"How do you know about my lovers?" he asked.

"I have this book that..."

"Book?"

Isarnia and Jenneh, both of whom had been listening in, were now very curious.

"Yes. It was written by a woman named Hana Doma." she said as she produced a red-leather bound book.

Shinji looked at the book.

"The Chronicles of Shinji?" He gasped, reading the cover.

"Yes. It details your adventures and the many love engagements you had with various women. Your prowess is quite renowned."

Shinji just stared at the book, seeing that it gave credit for helping with these stories by his past lovers: Hana, Tia, Lilia, Ayl, and several others.

' _They all contributed to this book by telling about the times we had sex?_ ' He gasped, not sure if he should be honored or horrified.

Just then, a bright, almost ethereal glow, washed down upon them. Shinji and the others heard what sounded like singing. Shinji looked up and the light almost blinded him. Isarnia and Jenneh looked on, covering their eyes with their hands, as a single female figure descended the steps down towards them. The light slowly started to die down, but to everyone's shock, the figure swiftly moved from the stairs, almost jumping down, at incredible speed, and ensnared Shinji in a tight hug.

"It's true! It's true!" The woman said.

Isarnia looked stunned at the woman, who was obviously the Elf Queen. Belith and Kadilen just smirked at the actions of their queen. Jenneh found her eyebrow twitch at what was happening.

The queen pulled back from Shinji, her eyes filled with tears as she lovingly caressed his face.

Shinji squinted his eyes to block out the light, but when his vision focused he gasped.

Despite that it had been a thousand years, and no time had passed for him, Shinji easily recognized the woman before him.

"Ayl?" He gasped.

"Welcome back, my apprentice." Queen Ayl said happily.

Shinji hugged her back, glad to see at least one of his friends. "I have so many questions, Ayl."

"And we have a lot to talk about." Ayl replied as she held him lovingly to her.


	21. Vacation

**_SHINJIS NEW LIFE_**  
By Gunman and Reisfriend

Disclaimer: We still own nothing.

Authors Note. From Reisfriend. Thanks to everyone who replied to my questions. It's good to hear that my efforts are appreciated. And I apologize that this chapter is short and rushed and it took this long, since I have been busy with work and it will be busy for a few weeks, so we will be taking a break until things have calmed down and gunman has also been feeling under the weather and it has been really busy with him as well. And as always, constructive critisism and suggestions for future chapters are welcome.

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Chapter 21  
 **Vacation**

"You met the princess, again?" Hana asked with a suprised expression.

"Yes. She wanted to meet Ayl and ask about her adventures." Shinji replied.

After Shinji and Ayl had returned to the Inn, Hana and the others had already gone to bed, but Shinji managed to catch Hana before she reached her room and the pair started making out before falling to sleep last night. And now the pair were in the kitchen, eating apples and drinking juice Hana had bought when she went to resupply the food stock.

The cook had woken up before Shinji, so she woke him up and greeted him with a good morning kiss before asking him to tell her what he and Ayl had been doing all day yesterday.

"Did she?" Hana asked.

"Well, Ayl did tell her about a few of the quests she had done in the past and she also told the princess about the towns and cities she had visited and about the people she has met." The healer answered.

"And, and? What else?" Hana asked excitedly.

"We told her how we met and about the quests we did. And also about you, Tia and Lilia." Shinji said.

"You told the princess about me?" Hana asked with a surprised expression, again.

"Yes, I told her how we met and how I cured you and how we became lovers." Shinji answered with a slight blush.

"You didn't go into details about our 'night activities'." Hana asked anxiously.

"Of course not." Shinji assured and Hana sighted in relief. _'She might have gotten either jealous or disgusted at hearing about that.'_ he thought. "Then she asked me to cure her half-sister." Shinji added.

"Her half-sister?" Hana asked in surprise yet again.

"The king has three wives. I agreed to cure her and I met another princess." Shinji answered.

"What's her name? And what was wrong with her?" Hana asked curiously.

"Her name is Helene Teresia Mercouri-Belfast and she had a disease that made her body weak and she also had difficulty to stay awake." He explained.

"But you managed to cure her?" Hana asked.

"Yes. She is healthy again." He said.

"What was she like?" Hana asked.

"Well, I didn't really get to know her since we had to leave the castle, but she seemed really gentle and friendly." He replied.

"Was she pretty?" Hana asked curiously.

"I can't even begin to describe her beauty. You would have to see her yourself so you could understand how beautiful she is. I think that she is the most beautiful girl I will ever meet. And even her voice was so beautiful that even Juna would lose in singing." He explained.

"You Must Never See Her Again Shinji!" Hana shouted suddenly.

"Why?" He asked, startled by her outburst.

"Because it sounds like you will fall in love with her if you spend any more time with her." Hana said.

"She did say that she will summon me again so she can hear about my adventures. But don't worry Hana, even if I fancy her in some way, it would be impossible for me to be with her. She is a royal and I am a commoner. And have you ever heard that a commoner married a princess?" Shinji assured her.

"I have not. But I don't want a beautiful princess as a rival." Hana said jealously.

Shinji kissed her to calm her down and it worked. "Don't worry Hana, I won't fall in love with the princess and leave you."

She kissed him again and said: "I believe you Shinji, but you're going to have to do the same thing to me what you did to Tia."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I want you to lick me as well." Hana replied.

"She told you about that?" Shinji asked.

"Yes and it sounds like it feels really good, and you haven't done that to me yet." Hana said.

"I was going to do that to you anyway, so it's a deal." Shinji agreed and kissed her again.

The pair continued kissing for several minutes until they heard a voice from the entrance hall.

"Shinji, are you here?!"

Shinji thought that the voice sounded familiar.

When he opened the kitchen door, he saw Brighid the ranger.

"Brighid, what brings you here today?" he asked.

"I was looking for you because there is someone here who wants to see you." Brighid answered.

Then he noticed that there was another person with a hooded cloak covering the face, so he couldn't tell who it was. He walked closer to them with Hana, who stared at the hooded person curiously.

Then the person removed the hood and revealed that it was a beautiful girl who looked like Helene.

"Princess Helene?" Shinji gasped in surprise, as did Hana.

"No. I am princess Iris, princess Helene's true-blooded younger sister." The girl replied.

"I apologize. You look very similar to Helene." Shinji said.

"Yes, I hear that quite often. But the reason I came here today was to thank you, Shinji Ikari." Iris said.

"Let's take a seat first." Shinji said and they sat down at the table.

"I went to visit Helene last night to see how she was doing, but to my surprise, she was cured. She told me about you as did Yumina." Iris said.

"What did they tell you?" Shinji asked.

"Everything you and Ayl told Yumina. I was also quite surprised that someone with a full blessing from the Goddess of Healing had appeared. I have heard and read stories about such people, but I never thought that one would appear in my lifetime and that I would get to meet that person." Iris answered.

Hana stared at the princess and evaluated her. She thought that Iris was quite beautiful and if she resembled Helene, then she could be a far too powerful rival if she or Helene took an interest in Shinji. And she didn't want that.

"May I ask you something, Princess Iris?" Shinji asked.

"What is it?" Iris said.

"Isn't it bad that you're out here?" Shinji asked.

"You mean the rule about the members of the Royal Family not allowed to leave the castle grounds? I am a princess in name only. I gave up all rights for succession and joined the army, since it was very unlikely that I would take the throne when the time comes. I am currently a knight captain of the 2nd knight squad, so I can leave the castle grounds if I want to and have business in the city." Iris answered.

"Oh. And I assume that princess Yumina mentioned how I met Brighid at Hearth Inn, so you asked her to show you where to find me?" Shinji asked.

"Yes. The Rangers also serve as scouts for the Army and report to us if there is a threat that the adventurers or the Rangers can't handle themselves. And Brighid is one of the best. Which is why I am assigning her to be your escort and guardian." Iris said.

"What?" Shinji asked in surprise.

"Someone like you with a full blessing from a Goddess is very rare and very valuable. The Army might ask for your healing services when needed, so you must be protected since you have chosen a dangerous occupation. Which is why Brighid shall accompany you on your travels and make sure you won't die." Iris explained.

"Let's get along Shinji." Brighid said with a grin.

At hearing that, Shinji wasn't sure if she meant what he thought she meant.

"But isn't it inconvenient for the Rangers if one of their best is guarding me?" Shinji asked.

"It's not. Brighid has been training new recruits and there were 2 very promising candidates who could become even better then her. So any duties Brighid had, those 2 can handle them." Iris explained.

"But are you okay with this Brighid?" Shinji asked the woman.

"Of course. I would have even volunteered for this job." Brighid replied.

Hana was glad to hear that there was another strong warrior protecting her lover. She just hoped that the warrior didn't become a serious rival.

"And again Shinji, thank you for curing my sister." Iris said.

"It was my pleasure. And meeting a princess was a rare experience for a commoner like me." Shinji said.

"Indeed it is. Are you going to see my sister again if she summons you? You can refuse the invitation if you want." Iris said.

"If she summons me, then I was going to meet her." Shinji answered.

"Well, be sure to entertain her if she so wants. She could use some entertainment in her life, since she can't leave the castle grounds like I can." Iris said.

' _Ugh! This girl never smiles_.' Shinji grumbled in his mind. Iris had been so serious and businesslike the whole time and her facial expression hadn't changed even once. He also thought that she would look super cute if she smiled.

"Well, I do know some good stories that I could tell her." Shinji replied.

"Hou. And where did you hear these stories?" Iris asked with an intrigued tone.

"My late father told them to me." He answered.

"Ah yes, Helene mentioned what happened to your family. My condolences." Iris said.

"Thank you. Was there anything else, Princess Iris?" Shinji asked.

"There is one thing I want to ask you. Could you heal my leg? I bruised it during training yesterday and it has been bothering me." She replied and raised the left hem of her pants to show him the large bruise she had on her calf.

"No problem." Shinji said and leaned in to place his hand on the bruise and said 'Recovery'.

"Aahh!" Iris moaned out in pleasure when his healing power coursed into her. Shinji looked at her face as he started and thought that she looked really cute when she didn't look serious.

A few seconds passed and the bruise was healed. Iris looked at her leg and then to Shinji.

"Shinji, thank you very much for this." She pulled out a small pouch from her cloak pocket. "I am giving you 10 gold coins as payment for healing me and as thanks for healing my sister. Yumina already gave you diamonds as payment, but I wanted to give you something as well for curing my sister. This reward might seem modest, but it's the best I could do at the moment." Iris said, being serious again.

"Thank you princess Iris. And you're welcome." Shinji replied.

"I will take my leave now, since I have duties to attend to. Good luck on your travels Shinji and stay safe." Iris said and turned to leave.

The others just stared at the departing princess until she was out the door. As Iris walked towards the Army District, she kept thinking about the moan she let out when Shinji healed her.

' _Kuh! That was embarrassing, moaning in front of a commoner like that. Please forget it right now you three_!' She thought.

"Well, this was interesting." Shinji said after the princess had departed.

"Shinji, am I dreaming right now?" Hana asked, shaking her lover.

"No, you're not Hana." He replied.

"I just sat at the same table as a princess. I never thought that would happen." Hana said, still flustered about the whole thing.

"I don't blame you for getting excited Hana. When Iris came to see me, it was my first time meeting a princess." Brighid added.

"Shinji, you just keep amazing me." Hana commented, calming down.

"So Shinji, is there something you're going to do today?" Brighid asked suddenly.

"I was going to visit the alchemy shop, but other then that, I have nothing planned." He replied.

"Oh good, I get to take it easy today." Brighid said.

Just then, Ayl walked down the stairs with Lilia and Tia.

"Brighid, what brings you here today?" Ayl asked as she came over to the table.

"I have been assigned to guard Shinji." She replied, knowing how the elf and Shinji's lovers would react when he told them what happened.

The group looked to Shinji for an explanation.

"You better sit down first." Shinji said and after they did so, he started explaining what happened a few minutes ago.

When he finished telling about princess Iris, the women were gaping at their friend.

"Princess Helene's younger sister came over here?" Tia asked.

"And she assigned Brighid to guard you?" Ayl asked.

"Yes, that's what happened." Shinji said, amused by their reactions.

Ayl got over her shock and said: "Oh well, this is good I suppose. Having another fighter with us can only benefit us."

"But is this okay with you Brighid?" Tia asked.

"Of course it is. I have wanted to do something interesting for a while now. And I wager that adventuring with you will be interesting." Brighid replied.

"Your job isn't interesting?" Lilia asked.

"It tends to get boring when there are no cases that needs doing. But Ayl, did you have something in mind for your next adventure?" Brighid replied.

"Actually, I was thinking about taking a short vacation. I requested the Guild to grant me and my party a short leave of absence so we could take a trip to my forest." Ayl replied.

"When did you request this?" Brighid asked, curious at seeing a real elven forest.

"Before we went to Allons." Ayl replied.

"And you want to take us with you to your forest?" Shinji asked, now hoping that her request was approved so he could finally see a real elven village in a fantasy world.

"Of course. You could all use a break and trust me, you can relax in my forest." Ayl said.

"Can I come with you?" Hana asked.

"If Juna approves, then I don't mind taking you with us." Ayl said.

"I will go ask her right now." Hana said and stood up.

"I'll go with you." Shinji said and walked out with Hana.

Ayl also left to visit the Guild to see if her request was approved.

"Are you excited about this trip?" Shinji asked his lover.

"Am I excited? I have always wanted to see Ayl's home and see how the elves live. And now I finally have a chance. So yes I am excited." Hana replied.

"Then we better hope that her request is approved." Shinji said. He was also glad that Hana was feeling happy about this.

They made a quick stop at the alchemy shop on their way to Inn where Juna usually worked and when they got there, they saw Juna eating breakfast at the bar counter.

"Hana, Shinji. What brings you here?" Juna asked the pair.

"Auntie, could I have some time off from work? Ayl is going to visit her home with her party and I want to go with them." Hana said bluntly.

"And Ayl said it was okay for you to go with them?" Juna asked and Hana nodded.

Juna seemed to think about something before she answered. "I don't know. I haven't seen an elven village before and you would get to see one before I do and many of the customers would be disappointed if they don't see their Goddess at work."

"Eehh!" Hana groaned.

Juna started laughing. "Relax, I was just kidding. Of course you can have some time off and go with Shinji. Just bring me a souvenir from the elven village." Juna said.

Hana sighted in relief. "Alright, I'll bring you back something."

"Take care of my niece Shinji." Juna told Shinji.

"I will, so don't worry." Shinji replied, glad to hear that she approved Hana's time off.

"Just don't have too much fun. I will get jealous otherwise." Juna joked.

"No promises." Hana countered and grabbed Shinji's hand as she ran out the door.

' _Though I am already jealous of you Hana_.' Juna thought as they left.

Outside, Hana suddenly pulled Shinji into a deep kiss. He started kissing her back and when they finished, Hana said: "This is great Shinji. I get to go on a journey with you."

"I just hope that the request is approved." Shinji replied.

"Don't worry. I have good feeling about this." Hana said and kissed him again.

They arrived back to the Silver Eagle to see Ayl and Shinji's two other lovers playing dices, along with Brighid.

"You're back. What did Juna say?" Ayl asked when she noticed the pair.

"She approved. And what about you?" Hana asked.

"I visited the Guild and the Guildmaster has approved my request for vacation. Mostly because we've been so successful in our missions and such. So start preparing for the trip." Ayl said.

"Yay!" Hana exclaimed in joy and once again kissed Shinji.

Tia and Lilia started thinking what they would do with Shinji during their trip to the elven village.

"Wait, what about Brighid?" Shinji asked.

"I was able to get her registered to my party, mostly because I told her that Iris had assigned her to our party. I left out that it was because of you." Ayl answered.

"Thank you for that." He said with a wiry smile.

"Ayl." Tia said.

"Yes, Tia?"

"We're not going to bring Bron, are we?"

The group looked at each other before looking at Ayl.

"What?" The elf adventurer asked.

"We're going to your forest. Do you think we should invite Bron?" Shinji asked.

"Hmm. No, I don't think that would be a good idea. The last dwarf that was brought to an elven village... let's just say it almost started a war. And Bron isn't a member of this party."

"That bad, huh?"

"Elves and Dwarves have very different lifestyles. We have a peace, but it's primarily contingent on us living in our own regions."

At that point, Shinji wasn't sure he wanted to know the details. Bron was a good guy and a capable fighter. While his manners and hygiene weren't the best, it did feel wrong to leave him out of this. But it wasn't a quest, so at the very least he wasn't missing out on much.

The group packed everything they thought they would need for the trip. It was at least a four or five day trip to Ayl's forest, so they would need lots of food and bedding.

Ayl hoped that Shinji would like her home.

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Authors Notes: From Reisfriend. Hopefully you like the chapter, even when it's rushed, short and took this long to make. We're taking a break until the busy time at work is over, so stay tuned for the next chapter. Suggestions are welcomed.

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OMAKE 1

Shinji was lead, arm-in-arm, by the queen of the woodland realm, which happened to be one of his former lovers. His mentor and teacher, Ayl Valtharos, who had been waiting a long time to see him.

They passed several elven warriors and servants, many of whom bowed to their queen, yet gave Shinji strange glances as they saw Ayl being so affectionate to him.

Ayl had lead Shinji, Jenneh and Isarnia to her chambers, which was inside the largest tree. Inside looked like a real house with furniture and a bed and there was also a mural on the widest wall, which depicted the battle between the heroes and the titans, in which the characters that resembled Ayl, Lilia, Tia and Shinji could be seen.

Isarnia and Jenneh went over to take a closer look at the artwork.

"That's you, isn't it Shinji?" Jenneh asked, pointing at one of the characters.

Shinji looked at the character and smiled.

"Yes, that's me. And that's Ayl, my mentor and the current queen of the elves." Shinji replied.

"You are THE Ayl Valtharos? The hero who killed the one controlling the titans?" Isarnia asked.

"That I am, but as you can see, I did not fight alone. There were many brave warriors beside me. But if it wasn't for Shinji, this world would have been destroyed." Ayl stated.

"Can you tell us who was it that wanted to destroy the world?" Jenneh asked.

"To this day, I don't know the name of the mastermind. All I know is that he was a leader of the cult who thought that society was too sick to survive, so he wished to destroy the world and everybody in it as punishment for all the evil that society had done to their fellow man and the world itself." Ayl answered.

"And how did you defeat the titans?" Jenneh asked.

"We didn't. The titans were, and still are, too powerful for mortals to destroy. Me and the other heroes only barely managed to slow them down. But Shinji destroyed 4 of them with his metallic powers. He took control of the titan that was made from metal and used it to battle the other 4 before I could kill the mastermind who was controlling them, which in turn made the titans return to the ocean floor and back to their slumber." Ayl explained.

Jenneh and Isarnia were gaping at Shinji.

"You destroyed 4 titans?" Jenneh gasped.

Neither of them knew the full details of the battle against the titans, and to hear that, was just stunning.

"I couldn't have done it without my powers." Shinji replied.

' _Now I simply must have him_.' Jenneh thought, feeling turned on by this revelation about the young champion of the Gods.

"I'm just glad you're still alive." Shinji said to Ayl.

"It was because of you, Shinji." Ayl said.

"Me?" he gasped.

"As you know, elves are immortal, but we can still die, either in battle or from a broken heart. It was hope that you were still alive that kept me going."

"Hope? For a thousand years?" he asked.

"To an elf, a century is a blink of an eye. A thousand years, just a little moreso." she said with a shrug. "Hana and Yumina cried for days when we didn't come back with you. Tomoe was also upset, which would have been worse had you slept with her." she said, getting Shinji to blush at that thought.

Sure, Tomoe was cute and a good friend, but he never would have slept with someone so young.

"I didn't mean to cause everyone grief." he said.

"I know that, Shinji. But... I'm just glad you're back!" she said with a smile, touching his arm affectionately.

"How did you become queen of the woodland realm? You told me you weren't royalty." Shinji said.

"True. But after centuries of adventuring and quests and battles upon battles, my people felt I was best qualified to lead them. I have only been queen for the last 159 years." she explained.

Ayl just looked at Shinji, noticing there was something bothering him.

"Is something wrong, Shinji?" she asked.

"I just... I'm confused about something." he said.

"What?"

"You're... still single? Or did you..."

"There have been others after you disappeared, but... to say that you held a special place in my heart is not exaggerating matters."

' _Damn you long-ears!_ ' Jenneh cursed in her head, because an elven queen who had a history with Shinji was a powerful rival and she didn't like competition.

"But it is interesting to hear that after all this time, that is what you choose to focus on." Ayl laughed. "Whether or not I was with someone."

"Well, it has been a thousand years." he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Isarnia was looking back and forth between the pair, wondering how this would play out when they had to leave.


	22. The Elven Forest

_**SHINJI'S NEW LIFE  
**_ by Gunman and Reisfriend

Disclaimer: We own nothing, which shouldn't surprise anyone anymore.

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Chapter 22  
 **The Elven Forest**

(4 days after leaving Ithalan)

Shinji was sitting behind Ayl, who was holding the reins of Tornac and Hana was sitting behind Shinji and tightly clinging on to him.

Tia and Lilia were riding together on the white horse with a black mane that Lilia had when they had ridden back to Ithalan from the Hunters Inn. Brighid was riding on a chestnut colored horse with a white mane.

During their ride to Ayl's forest, the group had encountered just one pack of wolves, which had 11 black wolves, but the group quickly dispatched them with magic. Lilia killed three wolves at the same time by shooting one with her bow and the other 2 with ice spears.

Hana had been shaking in fear after her first real encounters with monsters, which is why she wouldn't let go of Shinji before they went to sleep.

During the ride, Brighid also introduced herself properly, mainly to Shinji. Brighid was an orphan who never knew who her real parents were. All she knew was that she was left at the steps of the orphanage as a baby and raised by the staff of the said orphanage. She joined the army when she came of age and after completing basic training, she decided to take special training to become a Ranger, since it sounded more exciting then the Army. And sometimes it was more exciting and sometimes it was just boring.

Shinji thought that Brighid's story was quite cliche, since that setting often happened in adventure mangas.

Shinji also had sex with Tia and Lilia during the trip, in secret upon their request, since they had more or less become addicted to the pleasure and Shinji wasn't complaining.

And Shinji also came to appreciate more of the water magic he had, since he didn't have to use the leaves the people without water magic had to use as toilet paper. Ayl had some time ago explained to him that the leaves left a slight, but unbearable, itch that lasted a few hours after being used. So the ones who didn't have water magic requested Hana or Lilia to use water magic to clean them up after they did their needs in the forest. Brighid only had fire and light magic and she made it amply clear that she hated those leaves and wished that she had water magic.

' _Goddess of Magic, thank you for gifting me water magic_.' Shinji told the Goddess last night.

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(Gods Realm)

"You're welcome Shinji." Lianna's grandmother Lana, the Goddess of Magic said when she heard him, secretly wishing that she had a cute grandson like Shinji.

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"How much further Ayl?!" Hana shouted to Ayl as they were riding along the road.

"About half an hour to reach the road that leads to my forest and another hour to the village!" Ayl replied.

And as Ayl said, it took almost half an hour and the group reached a paved road that lead into the forest.

The group looked at the road leading further into the forest and thought that the road had an eerie look as well as the trees on either side of the road.

"Do we really have to use this road?" Hana asked shakily. Some of the trees looked like they had eyes and their leaf-less branches looked like claws. "This place looks... haunted."

"Trust me, it's an illusion magic that only makes it look scary. It's purpose is to discourage intruders. And we have to walk from here." Ayl explained.

"Let's move." Brighid said, actually getting excited about it.

The group dismounted the horses and started leading them into the forest. Hana clung on to Shinji as Tia moved next to him. The horses neighed as they entered.

"Ouch!" Hana groaned in pain. Shinji placed his hand on her butt and used 'Recovery' to heal the soreness. Hana moaned in relief as the soreness faded for the umptheenth time since the beginning of their journey. Hana had never been on a horse, so her body wasn't used to such long distance ride, like Shinji was when he rode on Tornac for the first time.

Shinji looked around and noticed that some trees had sap pouring out of them and some leaves were constantly changing color. He remembered reading that the sap was edible and some tree leaves could store a very small amount of mana, which often made the leaves change color constantly.

' _A little creepy, but pretty cool_.' He thought as he felt Hana tightening her hold on him.

Brighid was admiring the sight and thinking how exciting it was to be going to an elven village through a creepy forest.

Tia and Lilia kept their ears open and listened to anything that sounded suspicious, since the thick trees could hide enemies or beasts.

Ayl was frowning because the forest path probably didn't give the best first impression about her home to her friends.

"Are there traps in the forest?" Tia asked Ayl.

"There are magic traps for intruders and they are concealed with darkness magic." Ayl answered.

' _So the forest is a minefield_.' Shinji thought.

"And I suppose that this paved road is the only safe way through the forest? Are there guards keeping an eye on it?" Brighid asked.

"That's right. Many bandits and slavers would absolutely love to loot our treasury or capture some elves so they could sell them." Ayl replied.

"Has anyone managed to do either?" Lilia asked.

"About 300 years ago a well-organized slaver group managed to capture 4 elven children and get out of the forest, but they were caught before they could reach the nearest town." Ayl answered.

Before anyone could say anything, a dozen elven warriors appeared from behind the trees and aimed their bows at them.

' _Gah! Lord of the Rings scene_.' Shinji thought about the situation.

Tia and Lilia were surprised that the elves managed to conceal themselves from their senses so well and Brighid flinched at the sudden ambush. Hana yelped fearfully and tightened her hold on Shinji even more.

"Raise your hands everyone." Ayl told them and they did so.

"Who wants to enter our forest?" The apparent leader of the elves appeared in front of the group. He had an armor with a tree bark color like the other elves and he also had a short platinum blond hair and grey eyes.

"Ayl Valtharos of the house of Valtharos." Ayl said in her elven language that the others didn't know, but Shinji understood, since Galac and Lianna gave Shinji the knowledge to understand this worlds languages on the day he reincarnated.

"It has been a while Ayl." The leader said to her in their language.

"Yes it has Aeson. I have come to visit my parents with my friends. And also to inform Vanir's parents that his killer is at last dead." Ayl said.

Aeson seemed mildly shocked by Ayl's words before he said: "You may enter."

"Let's move everyone." Ayl told her friends and they started moving as the guards lowered their bows and made way.

"What did you tell him Ayl?" Brighid asked.

"I just told them that I came to visit my parents with my friends. And they know me since I have been through here quite often." Ayl answered.

"And I take it that you can't enter this forest if you are not invited?" Shinji asked.

"Yes. You need a permission, invitation or an escort to enter our village." Ayl replied bluntly.

The group didn't talk the rest of the way until they reached a large clearing which had several simple houses resembling cottages and at the treeline there were several tree houses and some elves walking around.

"Looks... different then I imagined." Hana commented.

"What did you expect then?" Ayl asked.

"I don't know. Maybe something more... magical." Hana said.

"We elves prefer simple living quarters, since we don't generally need large fancy houses like humans." Ayl explained.

"Generally?" Brighid asked.

"Some elves have more luxurious and spacious living quarters like my parents, since they are wealthy enough and it's also to show their status as nobles." Ayl explained.

"You never mentioned that you were a noble Ayl." Tia said.

"I don't brag about it. And I also left to become an adventurer because I wanted to see the world and meet people, instead of spending my whole life in this forest and in the comforts and luxuries of a nobles house." She replied.

"I can understand that. It sounds far more exciting then just spending your whole in comfort and safety." Brighid commented.

' _Brighid is an adrenaline junkie_.' Shinji thought.

As the group followed Ayl, some elves looked at the visitors as they passed by and Shinji also noted that he didn't see any kids running around. But all in all, he was currently visiting an elven village in a fantasy world like an isekai protagonist.

' _In games and mangas, these places look more magical_.' He thought as he took in the sight. ' _Then again, they are supposed to be enticing and interesting. Different from places humans would live. Peter Jackson would probably be disappointed._ '

Tia thought that spending her retirement days in a peaceful place like this wouldn't be a bad idea.

When they finally arrived at Ayl's home, the group noted that it was a 3-story mansion build with a simple architecture, nothing fancy or metallic. Stones that looked like white sandstone, the tiles on the roof looked like red brick, and the doors and window shutters looked like brown oak. The front door looked quite strong.

"What a nice house." Hana said in a childish manner, since she was excited.

"There is also a basement with a large bath. I recommend that we take a bath and rest up today. And of course, something to eat." Ayl said.

"A bath. I can't wait to soak in hot water." Brighid said happily.

"I also would like to have a hot bath." Tia said with a small smile.

Shinji also got excited. A hot bath after a long ride was something he had wanted to do for a long time now. There was a public bathhouse in Ithalan, but he hadn't been there yet since he had been too busy with training and quests.

Hana was getting even more excited. She had never taken a bath before, but now she could take one with her lover for the first time.

"Are there guestrooms where we can sleep?" Brighid asked.

"Of course. But come on now, let's take the horses to our stable." Ayl said and lead the group behind the house, where they brought the horses to the stable.

"Miss Ayl, you're back." The stable boy greeted them.

"Hey there Aego. It's been a while." Ayl replied.

"Are they your friends?" Aego asked as he noticed the five behind her.

"Yes. But I would like to leave our horses here and freshen up before dinner. Are my parents in?" Ayl asked.

"Lady Aelene is in, but Lord Aranel has gone to visit one of the other lords. He will return tomorrow from his trip." Aego answered as he took the horses reins.

"I see. Thank you." Ayl said and started leading her friends to the house.

The inside of the house looked well kept and there were a few paintings of elves along with some swords that were hanging below the portraits and the furniture looked like works of art thanks to the engravings and decorations that were carved in them.

"Looks pretty cozy." Hana evaluated.

"It is, especially during the cold season. There are magic stones embedded on the walls that emit heat and they can be recharged by anyone who has fire magic." Ayl said.

"That's pretty handy." Tia commented, remembering the time when she had to chop firewood with her father so they could warm up their house during the winter.

"Ayl, you have returned." They heard someone at the stairs.

The group turned to look and saw a beautiful elf whom they could have easily mistook as Ayl's twin sister.

' _Holy shit she's hot_.' Shinji thought, now knowing where Ayl got her elegant beauty from. She was dressed in a elegant-looking green gown with gold trim and silver accents around her neck and waist. She had a gold ring on her left ring-finger, and a silver necklace around her neck.

"Mother, I have returned with my friends. We are currently on vacation from the Guild." Ayl said in elven language.

"Welcome everyone. I am Aelene, Ayl's mother. Will you introduce them Ayl?" Aelene asked.

"This is Hana Doma, the cook and receptionist of the Inn I stay at. This is Tia Van Dorin, a quarter vampire and a fellow adventurer. This is Lilia Kranjcar, a pantherian adventurer. This is Brighid Vorn, a Ranger from Ithalan, and this is Shinji Ikari, my apprentice." Ayl said, pointing out each member of her group as she introduced them to Aelene.

"A pleasure to meet all of you. But we can talk after you have freshened up and eaten. I'll have dinner ready in 3 hours so you should go take a bath first." Aelene said and went towards the kitchen without another word.

Shinji seemed slightly confused by her demeanor. He noted that neither Ayl or her mother even tried to hug each other, not kiss each other on the cheek. Ayl noticed her apprentice's confused look.

"Don't mind her too much. She always goes right to the point with everybody." Ayl quickly explained.

"I don't mind. But show us to the bath now Ayl." Brighid said.

"This way." Ayl said, relieved that her team didn't mind too much about her mothers manners.

Ayl lead her friends to the basement, where she turned on the magic stones imbedded in the walls that emitted light.

When they got to the bathing room, the others were impressed while Shinji thought that it reminded him of a hot spring one saw in mangas.

Hana went over to the pool of water and tried the temperature. "How do you heat this water?"

"There is a fire magic stone in the bottom that heats the water. My parents both have fire magic and since they use this bath regularly, they recharge the stone daily." Ayl answered.

"I wish I had something like this in my home." Brighid whined.

"Me too." Tia added.

"But anyway, let's bath. Shinji, Hana and Lilia, clean our bodies first with water magic." Ayl said and started stripping. The others followed suit.

Brighid hesitated at first, since Shinji was there, but she mustered her courage and removed her clothes and armor.

The three water magic holders cleaned eveyones body and soon they were all relaxing in the hot water.

"Aaaahhhhh!" Everyone except Ayl moaned from enjoyment.

"This feels so amazing." Hana said, loving the relaxing feeling.

"I could get used to this." Brighid commented.

Tia and Lilia weren't saying anything, but the look on their faces told everyone that they were enjoying themselves.

' _Oh God I missed this_.' Shinji thought, remembering the times he had a hot bath after an Angel battle.

Ayl was glad to see that her friends were enjoying the bath and she was also glad that her father wasn't home at the moment, since there was no way he would have let Shinji anywhere near the bath when she was using it.

Tia and Hana scooted closer to Shinji and snuggled against him. Lilia was too relaxed to notice what her rivals were doing.

' _WHOA! Two naked beauties snuggling against me in a hot bath! It feels even better then I imagined!_ ' He thought, having fantasized about a scenario like this quite often.

"What kind of food are we going to have Ayl?" Brighid asked.

"I bet that we are going to have some fresh vegetables and fruits and some fish and chicken." She answered.

"Hmh, it will do." The Ranger stated.

"Shinji, let's sleep together." Hana said.

"I will sleep with you as well." Tia said.

"Hey! I get to sleep with Shinji alone!" Hana protested.

"If we were in Ithalan, I would agree. But since we are not, I will sleep with him. You can sleep on his left side." Tia countered.

Hana grumbled but agreed to Tia's suggestion. Lilia had almost fallen asleep, so she didn't even hear her rivals agreement.

Ayl and Brighid were suppressing their laughter as they watched their companions fighting over their love interest. Shinji on the other hand was busy enjoying the feeling of their breasts pressing against him.

The group spend the next 30 minutes relaxing in the hot water and Ayl had brought them cold drinks from a nearby cabinet, which was mead and the drinks were kept cool by the ice mandala Hana used often. Shinji also got the chance to finish the story he had been telling them along the ride. The story was Dracula, and the group had been enthralled by it.

"Shinji, would you wash my back for me?" Tia asked suddenly.

"NO TIA! He's going to wash my back first!" Hana protested.

"I asked him first." Tia said back.

"I'm his first lover." Hana said.

"Rock paper scissors." Tia said and raised her hand.

"Best of three." Hana declared and they started playing.

(5 minutes later)

"I win." Tia said as she won with paper.

"Nooooo!" Hana whimpered in defeat.

"I think we should get out now. I'm getting a bit dizzy." Brighid said and got out of the pool.

"I agree." Ayl said and also got out. "And wake up Lilia."

Tia shook Lilia awake and the group started washing each other. Shinji was surprised to see sponges and liquid soap, but then he remembered Ayl telling him that the rich could afford such luxuries, since soap was difficult to make and sponges weren't widely available, due to the price and rarity.

"Ooohhh. That feels good Shinji." Tia moaned as Shinji scrubbed her back.

Hana was washing Shinji back and was actually glad that she lost the game, since she wouldn't get to wash her lover if she had won and he would be washing her next.

"Lilia, your skin is so pretty." Brighid complimented out of nowhere, since she was a bit drunk.

"Thank you." She replied, grumbling at the sight of 4 other beautiful women with big breasts.

"Harder Shinji." Hana said as Shinji started washing her back. "Ooh. Just like that."

Shinji was fighting back the urge of getting hard, but it wasn't easy, since he was washing a beautiful womans back and there were four equally naked beauties around him.

' _A perverts wet dream, or at least part of it._ ' He thought, his willpower wavering a bit.

10 minutes later, the team was thoroughly washed with Shinji's Shower, which everyone enjoyed. They also used water magic to clean their clothes and headed to the dining room.

Ayl just hoped that her mother didn't realize that Shinji was from another world.

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Upstairs in the kitchen, Aelene was supervising the cooks in order to make sure that her daughter and her friends had the best first elven meal of their lives. None of them had been here before, and so it was only right to make a good first impression of the elves to them.

Aelene had eyed each of Ayl's companions, trying to understand them as much as possible. She had been a good judge of character, something she passed on to Ayl. So she was confidant that Ayl had chosen these people because they were good and trustworthy.

And diverse. A ranger, an inn keeper, a quarter-vampire and a pantherian.

However, the one that interested her the most was Ayl's apprentice. Shinji Ikari. Aelene couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something off about him. Her instincts told her that he wasn't a threat, but there was an aura of mystery about him. As if he was blessed or charmed or something.

' _Shinji Ikari. What mysteries do you hold?_ ' she thought as she rubbed her gold wedding ring on her left hand.

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Authors Notes:

Sorry this took so long to update. Things have been pretty busy in the real world.

This chapter was a bit simple and fun, since the group is on a vacation. There will be more conflict and drama late, but for now the group is just relaxing and enjoying their vacation.

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OMAKE 1

Bron the dwarf fighter had decided to come with the adventurers to Ayl's forest for their vacation. Bron had never been to an elven forest before. He was naturally wary.

"They say a great elf witch lives in these forests." the dwarf said.

Shinji's ear twitched at he heard him say that.

"All that look upon her, fall under her spell, and are never seen again." he contiued.

' _OH, My, GOD! Is he really imitating Gimli right now and not even realizing it?_ ' Shinji said, trying not to laugh.

"Well, here's one dwarf she won't ensnare so easily. I have the eyes of a hawk and the ears of a fox!" He said with bravado.

' _And cue the elves_.' Shinji thought as several elven warriors appeared out of nowhere, their arrows aimed right at the group. Three were pointed at Bron. ' _Called it._ '

"And the footsteps of a pregnant ox." one of the elves said.

Bron growled at he said that.

"The dwarf breaths so loud we could have shot him in the dark." another elf said.

' _Oh, Kill Me Now!_ ' Shinji thought, struggling very hard not to laugh at what he was hearing.


	23. Foes From Below

_**SHINJI'S NEW LIFE**_  
By Gunman and Reisfriend

Disclaimer: We still own nothing and very likely never will.

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Chapter 23  
 **Foes From Below**

Shinji woke up, feeling Tia and Hana clinging on to him in their sleep. The combined smell, weight and warmth of his two lovers felt amazing in such a way that he felt like falling asleep again.

' _Do you find this amusing Lianna-sama?_ ' He thought as he stared at the ceiling.

And sure enough, Lianna and the Goddess of Love did find the scene amusing, but they also felt jealous.

As he looked at his lovers sleeping faces, he was thankful that they didn't do a threesome, since he doubted that he could survive such a thing, at least for now.

Not wanting to wake them, he thought back to the previous day when they had a rather tasty dinner after the bath.

Ayl did most of the talking, but Aelene occasionally asked the others some questions, like where they were from, how they met and what they did together.

But the way Aelene had sneaked glances at Shinji from the corner of her eyes made him think that she might be on to him about something. He wondered what would happen if she knew that he was from another world. Best case scenario was that she would only want to know more about his world and keep it to herself.

When he told his story to Aelene, he wasn't sure if she bought it, since it was a bit difficult to read the older she-elf.

But so far Ayl didn't tell her mother that Shinji had two blessings from the Gods, though he wondered if they would tell her. He just hoped that Aelene didn't raise a fuss about it.

He closed his eyes, trying to fall back to sleep in the comfortable warmth of Tia and Hana.

Half an hour later, he had almost fallen asleep, until Hana woke up and shook him awake.

"Shinji, wake up." She said sleepily.

"Hnn, Hana." Shinji groaned.

"Time to wake up." She said as he opened his eyes.

Before he could say anything, Hana kissed him lightly.

"Today we are going to go sightseeing the elven village." Hana said after the kiss.

"And get a souvenir for Juna." He added.

"You are not going anywhere without me." Tia said as she woke up.

"Can't you let me go alone with Shinji?" Hana asked the lancer.

"No. Me and Lilia also get to have Shinji, since we are not in Ithalan right now." Tia replied before she kissed him.

' _Getting kissed by two beauties right after waking up. What luxury_.' He thought.

The trio went downstairs after dressing up and found Ayl and Lilia sitting at the dinner table, eating bread and fruits.

"So you finally woke up." Ayl commented.

"Well, I was tired and sleeping with these two was very comfortable." Shinji countered as they sat down. Tia smiled lightly while Hana blushed.

Lilia seemed to be displeased as she ate the bread. Tia noticed this and said: "You can sleep with Shinji tonight."

The demi-humans expression softened when she heard that.

"Thanks Tia." She said.

During the meal, Shinji asked Ayl about why her mother didn't hug her or anything, since he was curious. Ayl answered that elves don't generally touch each other, only lovers and close friends touch each other in some way. Shinji thought that they had a similar custom like in Japan.

Hana asked if there was a blacksmith or a trader who sold something and Ayl answered that there was a trader and a blacksmith and they both sold stuff that could be used in daily life and decorations as well.

Lilia asked where Aelene was and Ayl replied that she was training the elven warriors in archery.

When they were done with the meal, Ayl offered to show them the village and they agreed.

When they left to tour the village, Ayl showed them the residential area, which mainly had just homes where elves lived and they noticed only three elven children running around, playing tag. Hana thought that the kids looked really cute. Shinji thought that one didn't see elven kids in movies but now that he saw actual elven kids, they did look like they would grow either handsome or beautiful, which was a common trait in elves.

Then Ayl lead them to the farmland, where several elves were seamlessly working together. The elven method of working the field looked more efficient then the way humans worked the fields in Lilia's opinion. Ayl explained that the fields had no owner and all the food went to everyone instead of selling them to inn's and food markets. They also noticed that the elves were using water magic quite a lot to water the crops, unlike humans.

The tour continued to the area that overlooked the grounds where the elven warriors were trained. They saw about 400 elves in armors practicing with swords,spears and shields, but no axes or hammers. They also saw Ayl's mother instructing elves on archery as they were shooting their arrows at training dummies and some elves were even riding on horses and shooting the said dummies from horseback. Some were also practicing offensive and defensive magic.

Tia and Lilia looked quite impressed by the level of discipline the elves displayed, as well as the elegant fighting style they displayed with their spears. Lilia looked enviously at the bows they were using and wanted one, deciding to look for one at the blacksmith. Brighid thought that humans could only win against these warriors with superior numbers.

"Ayl, does the blacksmith sell bows?" Lilia asked as they left the training area.

"He does, but they can be expensive, depending on the material used." She replied.

"How about spears?" Tia asked.

"Same thing as with the bows." Ayl answered.

"I still would like to see if there is something that would suit me." Tia said.

"Well then, let's go see if there is something." Ayl said and started leading them to the blacksmith.

The blacksmiths forge was located near an open area with a stream next to the building and there was a blond haired elven male banging on a piece of metal outside next to a small forge. And he was assisted by a blond elven woman.

Ayl explained that the blacksmiths name was Rados and the apprentice was Runon and they made the smaller items outside, like knives and other small decorative things while they made the bigger and more complicated things in the basement which was ventilated with wind magic stones and windows. And the forge inside was also bigger.

Shinji noted that they had stuffed cloth in their ears. He figured that was what they used for hearing protection.

Rados told Runon something and handed him the tongs she was using to hold the piece of metal. The apprentice came over to the team and greeted them.

"Ayl, it has been a while since you visited." Runon said.

"It certainly has. How have you been doing Runon?" Ayl replied.

"Same old. I'm getting better and now I can make swords and shields." Runon said.

Shinji and the other girls took a look at the elven woman and noted that she had a cute face and a lean body with muscles developing and she had small breasts, about Lilia's size.

"Good for you. Maybe one day you get to repair my sword." Ayl complimented.

"Perhaps. And this time you brought friends with you as well. Are they going to buy something?" She asked.

"I would like to buy a bow." Lilia joined the conversation.

"And I would like a new spear." Tia added.

"We have some that might suit you. Follow me." Runon said and lead them inside the house that was bigger then the regular houses they viewed at the residential area.

Inside there was a variety of swords, spears, bows and a few shields on display. Lilia and Tia went to look over their weapons of choice with starry eyes.

Hana looked around and saw that there was nothing that would make a good souvenier for her aunt. But then again she wasn't sure what she should get for her, since she wasn't good at picking presents or souvenirs.

Tia had picked up a spear which had a black shaft and the blade was curved and made from metal Shinji didn't recognize. But the weapon itself reminded him of a naginata.

Lilia had picked up a bow that looked like any elven bow one saw in fantasy movies. The bow had two small mana stones embedded on the backside of the belly.

He decided to look around the store and check if there was anything he could use with his powers. There were several knives on display, but he thought that he already had enough knives. He hoped that there would be shurikens, but he also thought that most likely those didn't exist in this world.

Brighid was looking over the short swords, but so far nothing had caught her eye, since her sword was made from Brightsteel and none of the swords on display were made from better materials.

Tia and Lilia went over to buy the weapons they picked out. Lilia had to pay 3 gold coins for the bow and Tia had to pay 24 gold coin for the spear. Runon then showed Lilia how to change the mana stones in the bow and showed the special feature the bow had. The bow could change color to blend in to the environment, which was a common feature in the elven hunters bows, as well as the border guards bows.

After leaving the blacksmith, Ayl lead the group to the traders house which was a two-storey house. The merchant was a fairly good looking elven man with black hair, green eyes and was wearing an expensive looking outfit made from silk. Shinji had to suppress his laughter, since he thought that the outfit looked pointlessly flashy.

"Welcome Ayl. How can I help you?" The merchant spoke.

"Hello Gael. I just brought my friends over to see your wares." Ayl replied.

"Feel free to browse. I offer quality goods at fair prices." Gael said in salesman-like manner, which almost made Shinji explode from laughter. And the flashy outfit didn't help.

The wares on display were clothes, kitchenware, vases, spices, alcoholic drinks, preserved food and a few saddles for the horses.

Hana found a wooden wine jug with a landscape carving on it and decided to bring it to her aunt as a souvenier.

Tia and Lilia went over to look at the clothes, along with Shinji. Lilia picked out a hooded hunters jacket, which was enchanted to blend into the environment. Tia picked out a pair of boots that, in her opinion, matched with her leather pants. Shinji picked out a pair of leather gloves which were made from cut resistant leather he had seen Gallus wear when he worked. He figured that if he had to move monster corpses, the gloves would protect his hands to some degree at least.

Brighid had picked out 3 bottles of different whiskeys and one bottle of ale. Ayl picked out 2 bottles of mead.

Gael thanked them all for the purchases they made as they paid and left the house.

"So what do you think about my village." Ayl asked suddenly.

"It's quite peaceful." Shinji said.

"A good place to retire." Tia commented.

"The forest looks like a good hunting ground." Lilia said.

"I think it's boring." Brighid said.

Everyone except Ayl turned to look at Brighid.

"I mean there is nothing to do here. No entertainment at all. Not even a bar." The Ranger explained.

"That's true. One of the reasons I became an adventurer was because I wanted excitement." Ayl agreed.

Everyone gave Ayl a puzzled expression.

"Since we elves live longer then humans, we are more used to slow life without excitement. But there are those who want to experience excitement and danger." Ayl clarified.

"And one of the reasons why you don't see many elves in human towns or cities is because the number of thrill seeking elves is low?" Brighid asked.

"Exactly." Ayl replied.

GUUUUUUUU! Hana's stomach growled, which embarrassed her so much that she buried her face to Shinji's shoulder.

"Looks like it's lunch time." Ayl said, but she was secretly glad that this time her appetite didn't embarrass her.

She lead her friends back to her house, where they ate sandwiches and some chicken that was left over from yesterday, which was preserved in a cabinet with a preservative magic, same as the one Shinji saw in the chest he found on his first day.

During the meal, Shinji asked Ayl if there was a library and Ayl replied that there was, but all the texts were in elven, so he couldn't read them. Ayl didn't know that Shinji could read and understand all the languages of this world, thanks to his patron Gods.

When the meal was eaten, the others decided to take a nap, since they were bored and feeling lethargic. Shinji and Ayl left the house on her request.

Ayl lead Shinji to a secluded area near the stables, where there was a table and some chairs.

"Shinji, are you bored?" Ayl asked.

"Well, if I'm being honest, then yes. I would like to have something to do to pass the time." He replied.

"I understand. Even I'm getting bored now. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. I just thought that you could all use a break and rest." She said.

"Well, Hana is at least a little bit happy because she got to go on journey with us." Shinji said, trying to comfort her.

"Well there's that. What kind of entertainment is there in your world Shinji?" Ayl asked.

"That's an even taller order then the vehicles, but we have things like this." Shinji started telling her about his world's entertainment.

Ayl listened for the past 4 hours how her apprentice explained to her about the things the people did for fun in his world. Board games, sports, billiard, darts, horse races, card games. Ayl stopped him after the card games. Shinji decided not to try and explain video games and movies, since she most likely wouldn't understand.

"The more I hear about your world, this world seems so primitive by comparison." Ayl commented jealously.

Shinji started laughing at her expression. Her face looked hilarious when she was jealous.

"Why are you laughing?" Ayl asked, confused.

"Your face just looks so funny when you're jealous." He answered.

Ayl suddenly grabbed him and started giving him a noogie. "This is payback."

"Oww oww!" Shinji whined as Ayl ground her knuckles against his head.

After Ayl stopped, she said: "A little bit of payback for making fun of me."

"Yeah, well now it's my turn." Shinji said suddenly attacked her by starting to tickle her sides.

"Aaaahhh! NO! Hahahhaaaahaaa!" She started laughing and tried to back away from him but she fell on the table.

Shinji continued to tickle her mercilessly as she laid on the table. "Staaaahwp Shini aahhhahahhaaa!" Ayl babbled as she tried and failed to suppress her laughter.

He stopped tickling her and waited for her to calm down.

"You are so evil Shinji." Ayl grumbled at him.

"Tickling you is just too much fun." Shinji said, smirking at her frowning face.

"You know, my parents used to wake me up by tickling me, since I was a heavy sleeper when I was a kid. It was one of their ways of amusing themselves." Ayl said.

"Parents do have a tendency to do that. My parents sometimes woke me up by yanking my blanket off of me when I overslept." Shinji said.

"They didn't tickle you?" Ayl asked.

"I'm not that ticklish." He answered.

"Too bad. I was thinking that maybe I would torture you with tickling." Ayl said.

Shinji started laughing as did Ayl. When they stopped, Shinji said: "Ayl, just talking with you like this is quite fun. But is there a carpenter in this village who could make a dartboard and could we ask the blacksmith to make some darts? I think that it would be a popular game anywhere."

Ayl seemed to think about his suggestion. "Not a bad idea actually. The dartboard sounds easy enough, but you would have to draw a picture of it as a model for the carpenter. And a sketch of the darts for the blacksmith."

"I think I can do that. I'm a pretty good drawer." He said.

"I'll bring you some paper and ink later. But I have to go now Shinji." Ayl said.

"Go where?" He asked curiously.

"I have to go see Vanir's parents and inform them that their son is avenged." She answered.

"Do you want me to come with you?" He asked.

"No. This is my concern. Just go to the others." She said and started walking away.

He watched her walking towards the residential area for a while before he decided to just go back to the house.

' _I just hope that it goes well_.' He thought, thinking how painful it must be for her.

Thinking what Ayl had to go through, he hoped that he wouldn't have to do something what his mentor had to do right now.

Sitting at the porch, he started thinking what he would do right now. In the elven village, there wasn't much to do for entertainment. People worked until late at night and then they would just rest and eat and wash up. And repeat. The idea was quite depressing to him. Just work all day long thoughout the year.

"Shinji." He was snapped out of his musings when someone shook him.

"Lilia." He said as he turned to look.

"What are you doing just sitting out here?" She asked.

"Just thinking." He answered.

"What were you thinking?" She asked as she sat next to him.

"The people here don't do anything for fun. So I was trying to think up something that would be entertaining and fun for everyone." He explained.

"And did you come up with something?" The archer asked.

"I think so. What would you think about a game like this?" He started explaining the dartboard to her.

"What a marvelous idea Shinji! I want to try it!" Lilia exclaimed excitedly.

"You like the idea?" He asked, surprised by her excited reaction.

"A game where you compete which one can achieve a required amount of points and it requires accuracy to hit the specific target. Of course I like the idea." She answered.

"Then I just have to make a good drawing for the carpenter and the blacksmith." He said.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"I talked about this with Ayl and she said that she would bring me paper and ink so I can draw the board and darts required." He explained.

"Oh. I can't wait." She said and suddenly moved to sit on his lap, facing him.

"Lilia?" He asked, surprised that his cute archer friend suddenly straddled him.

"Could we make out for a bit? I couldn't sleep." She asked.

"Sure." He answered, only mildly surprised by her suggestion, since out of all of his lovers, Lilia was the most enthusiastic when it came to being intimate. The others weren't holding back, but Lilia seemed to be ready to go at it at any time.

"But could you bring out your ears and tail first?" He asked before she could kiss him.

She didn't answer, but she made her ears and tail visible.

"You're so cute Lilia." He managed to say before she pressed her lips against his.

Her arms wrapped around his neck and his left hand went down to her firm ass as his right hand went to her back. She squirmed against his left hand as she felt him touching her rear as they continued kissing and grinding their tongues against each other.

' _Oh God her body feels so good_.' He thought as he felt his dick getting harder.

Lilia pulled back, a thin thread of saliva connecting them as she panted for air.

"Shinji, this feels so good." She said quietly.

"I also like this Lilia." He said, groping her ass a bit harder.

"Mnn." Lilia moaned.

"Can I touch your ears Lilia?" He asked suddenly.

"Eh? You want to touch them?" She asked in surprise.

"Is it bad?" He asked.

"No, you can touch them. Just be gentle, they're sensitive." She said and waited for him to touch them.

His hands went up to her ears as he started to caress them as gently as he could.

"Oh!" Lilia moaned cutely.

' _They're so soft and fluffy_.' He thought, loving the soft feeling in his fingers as he continued to touch her ears.

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Ayl was walking back from her meeting with Vanir's parents. While they were upset at having to be reminded of their sons death, they finally had closure to the matter since their sons killer was finally confirmed dead.

She didn't like having to be reminded of her past lovers death, but she was glad that it was over. And she had Shinji to thank for it.

Ayl had to smile at how much better her life had been since Shinji had come into her life. If not for him, Mirian would have had the last laugh.

Suddenly, her ears twitched. She looked around, a sense of dread welling up inside her. Her years of adventuring had given her a heightened instinct about danger.

' _Something is coming_ ' she thought as she looked out towards the forests, hearing the clomping hooves of a horse. Then two horses, then three.

"AYL!" Lord Aranel shouted, riding a brown horse ahead of two others.

"Father?" Ayl gasped when she saw her father.

"Grab On!" He shouted as he passed her, grabbing her hand and hoisting her up behind him.

Ayl was quick to react, flipping herself up behind her father as he continued to ride hard with his two guards behind him.

"Father, what is happening?" Ayl shouted, wondering why he was so panicked.

"We're being attacked!" he replied.

"Attacked? By who?" she asked.

"Not who, by what!"

SCREEEECH!

Ayl gasped when she heard the roar of a creature.

' _No! It can't be!_ ' She gasped when she heard it.

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Shinji and Lilia were sitting underneath a nearby tree, just resting in the shade. Lilia was lying against Shinji like he was a pillow. Lilia had wanted to move somewhere more secluded and with more shade

Something buzzed in Shinji's head.

' _What the... metal? Moving... towards us? But where the heck..._ ' he thought as he suddenly heard the heavy hoofbeats of a horse heading towards them.

"SHINJI!" Ayl shouted.

Suddenly, the earth exploded open as a large worm-like creature surprised one of Aranel's guards. It's large tongue wrapped around the guards horse and caused the male elf to be thrown off. He hit the ground hard, his horse was not so lucky.

Shinji and Lilia balked when they saw it.

"What is that?" Lilia gasped as the horse was quickly devoured.

"It's an Iron Worm!" Ayl shouted.

"A What?" Shinji gasped.

"A giant carnivorous creature from the Iron Mountain. It's skin is hard as Dwarf Steel. The only way to kill it is to impale it through the mouth when it tries to eat you." Ayl explained.

Shinji threw out his hands causing the beast to stop. He lifted the worm out of the ground and into the air, getting everyone to get a good look at it. The thing was heavier than it looked.

Aranel and the other elves were stunned by what they were seeing as they stopped the horses and the guards drew their bows as Aranel readied his fire magic along with Ayl.

"Whoa! That thing is huge!" Lilia gasped.

The worm was longer than three horses, and just as tall. It's head seemed to be covered in a dull gray helmet, but Lilia and the others realized that it was it's own skin. The rest of it's body looked like it was made of thick dark brown leather.

"Shinji! Open Its Mouth!" Ayl shouted as she aimed the fireball at the worm.

Shinji did as his mentor instructed, using his metal powers to open the creatures maw. Its tongue lashed out, back and forth, but Ayl was not deterred. She fired the fireball right down it's throat, striking at it's softest inner spots and getting the creature to shriek out in pain.

Suddenly, it stopped moving.

Shinji sighed in relief as he dropped the creature to the ground.

"That was incredible!" Lilia said. "Look at this thing!" She gasped, looking the giant worm over.

"What happened, Ayl?" Shinji asked his mentor.

"It's a long story. My father and his men were attacked on their way back to our village. He lost three men and their horses." she said.

Shinji looked at the worm and got a very bad feeling in his stomach.

' _One worm couldn't eat three men_ _ **and**_ _their horses and still be hungry_.' He thought as he looked around.

Shinji suddenly felt something was wrong.

"Ayl! There Are More Of Them!" Shinji said.

"What? Are you sure?" She gasped, getting the others to look at him.

"Yes. They're heading right towards us." He said.

"They? How many? Where are they?" Aranel asked.

"That way!" Shinji said, pointing toward the forest. "I sense three of them!"

"THREE?!" The elves gasped.

The elves notched their bows once again, Lilia arming herself this time.

"Shinji, can you handle these other worms too?" Ayl asked.

"If they stay together. If they split up it'll very difficult. I've never directed my powers at three different targets before." He replied.

The worms bursted out of the ground and split off into three directions.

Shinji stretched out his hands and managed to grab two of them with his metal controlling powers. However, the third one managed to break away and attack the other elves, who fired their arrows at the beast. Yet, its hide was too thick for their arrows to penetrate, plus it kept diving underneath the ground where their weapons could not reach.

Shinji had been using his metal powers to hold up two of the worms with one hand, stretching out his other hand to capture the third worm. Dividing his attention between the three worms was hard, but he managed to bring all three of them back into one place.

"Shinji! Open Their Mouths!" Ayl shouted.

Shinji forced their mouths open, Lilia and the other elves aiming their arrows at the worms mouths and firing. Aranel and Ayl fire their fire magic towards the worm on the left while Lilia and the elves fired at the middle one.

Five arrows flew into the worms mouth, striking at the soft insides and killing it. The one Ayl and her father were aiming seemed to burn from the inside because of their magic.

He released the two dead worms and proceeded to kill the last one by crushing it's head with his powers. The others just stared as blood and innards gushed out of the worms mouth, hitting one of the elves boots as the creatures head looked like something just crushed it. He released the worm when it stopped struggling and screeching.

Shinji started panting when he released his power from the last worm. Lilia and Ayl quickly went up to him and embraced him tightly.

"Are you alright?" Lilia asked her lover.

"I'm fine, just a little shaken up." Shinji said as he shook his head, the adrenaline rush coming down. They noticed Tia and Brighid running towards them and the soldiers from the training grounds rushing at the scene.

Aranel just stared at his daughters apprentice in shock. "Ayl, I think we should talk." He said to her.

Ayl grimaced, knowing where this was going to go.

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Authors Notes:

Sorry this took so long to get out. Work, and the current state of affairs (the Covid-19) has been making things tough. Remember to take care of yourselves. Social distancing and washing regularly.

Hope you enjoyed the read. Now please enjoy the omakes.

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OMAKE

Shinji had been given his own room while in the Elven Forest. Ayl had been with Isarnia and Jenneh just explaining that Shinji would need some time alone. Though she had been longing to see him after a thousand years, she understood what it meant to be alone to mourn.

Isarnia and Jenneh had seen the hurt and upset looks on his face, and had decided it was better to give him his space.

But while they understood that, two others had been secretly keeping an eye on him.

While Ayl was retelling the details of their adventures and exploits, from her first meeting with Shinji to their battle against the Titans, Isarnia revealed the other reason they had come to the Forest.

"An alliance?" Ayl asked.

"Yes. The last few centuries the Elves and the Human alliance have waned. Our leaders needed a way to get you to speak with us." Isarnia said.

"That's very... political of you." Ayl said.

"I know." the ice sorceress sighed. "But your boarders have been closed to us for a very long time."

"Ever since the failed Conference of Allistar and the Trade Wars..." Ayl said.

"Not to mention the Assassination of King Fortell..." Jenneh added.

"Relations between the Elves and Humans have been tense to say the least." Isarnia said. "There are some of us who want to be allies again."

"And do all your leaders feel the same way?" Ayl asked.

"Not all of them."

Meanwhile...

Shinji couldn't help but reminisce about his friends and lovers that he would never see again.

He wondered if maybe they would be reincarnated, but that was remote at best, especially if they were going to be reborn years or decades from now. Would they even remember him? Would he even recognize them?

He was so lost in thought that he failed to notice two figures sneak into his private room and stand before them.

Shinji looked up and saw the two elves, Kadilen and Belith, standing before him.

The Elf druid Belith had a much more exotic look than the other elves, especially with her spiraled horns just standing straight up. Kadilen the elf warrior had been wearing her armor when he first met her, but now it looked like she was off duty, since she was wearing only her light blue tunic.

"Ms Belith, Ms Kadilen!" he said, surprised to see them.

"We are here to comfort you." Belith said.

"I... really don't..."

"We understand. Most people would prefer to be alone in this time, but..." Kadilen said.

"We also know that such a thing, is not good. Especially for someone who cared for those they have lost." Belith finished for her.

The pair sat on both sides of Shinji, gently rubbing up against him, trapping his arms with their own.

"Allow us to get to know you better." Belith said.

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OMAKE 2

Shinji walked into the Silver Eagle, seeing it as more lively than ever before.

Juna was there just taking in the activities that the people were playing.

There were people playing darts, people playing pool, people playing dice, and even people playing cards.

Juna called Shinji over, a smile on her face.

"I have to say Shinji, these ideas you had about new games to play have really been inspiring. And profitable." the older woman said.

"You're welcome."

Shinji had to admit that coming up with the different games was a challenge, but it was nice to be rewarded for his efforts.

After creating the games for the elven village, Shinji and the others had brought them back to Ithalan where Juna got very interested in new forms of entertainment. It took Shinji a long time to explain the different games to her. Since then, both her own Inn near the royal district and the Silver Eagle had been bustling with activity.

The craftsman that he had found was still working on the new 'domino' idea, but Juna assured him it would be worth it. If his other ideas for games were also this profitable.

She was even thinking of hosting a tournament to see just how much could be made on competition between people who liked to play these games.

It was at this point that Shinji wondered if he hadn't unintentionally brought gambling to Ithalan.

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End file.
